Dreaming of Cybertron
by Valencia Knight
Summary: A Decepticon femme searches for a panacea in the debris of war. Where did everything start to go wrong? Perhaps it was when Optimus convinced Sentinel to betray Megatron. Maybe it was when Cybertron was pushed back into space with the majority of the Con's army still on it. Whatever the case, the Decepticons are torn between Soundwave, Starscream, revenge and a desire for survival.
1. Mission Details

*Incoming Transmission from Soundwave*

Download of File X03 commencing...

*Success is essential. Contact Barricade or Grindor if you require assistance*

Download complete.

.

.

.

 **File X03**

.

Designation: Soundwave

Current Form: Mercedes Benz SLS AMG (Silver)

Location: London, England

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

.

Designation: Override

Current Form: Audi R8 V10 (Blue)

Location: Paris, France

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Fracture

Current Form: Russian F1 Race Car (White with Red)

Location: Tokyo, Japan

Assignment: Not Relevant

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Designation: Barricade

Current Form: Ford Mustang Saleen S281E Police Cruiser (Black and White)

Location: Washington D.C. , USA

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Grindor

Current Form: CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter (Light Blue)

Location: In Motion above the Gulf of Mexico

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: The Doctor / Scalpel

Current Form: Tiny Doctor Form (Silver)

Location: In motion above the Gulf of Mexico

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Brawl

Current Form: M1 Abrams Tank (Army Green)

Location: Moscow, Russia

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Loader

Current Form: Superfund Security Truck (Dark Gray)

Location: Berlin, Germany

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Bonecrusher

Current Form: Buffalo Mine-Protected Vehicle (Sand)

Location: Jerusalem, Israel

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Hightower

Current Form: Crane (Yellow)

Location: Beijing, China

Assignment: Not Relevant *to your mission*

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Designation: Sparkplug *Present*

Current Form: Kinroad Racer 150 Dune Buggy (Yellow)

Location: Casper, Wyoming, USA *Current Displacement*

Assignment: Track down Steelwing, coax information concerning deserters, re-establish communication with Starscream.

...

Designation: Starscream

Last seen as: F-22 Raptor (Silver / Gray)

Last known location: Chicago

Activity: Avoiding Soundwave's communication attempts.

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Designation: Skywarp

Last seen as: F-15 Eagle (Black and Purple)

Last known location: Chicago

Activity: Unknown

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Designation: Thundercracker

Last seen as: Lockheed-Martin F-22 Raptor (Blue and Gray)

Last known location: Caracas, Venezuela

Activity: Slaughtering fleshlings.

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Designation: Space Case

Last seen as: a fast flying blur (Blue-Gray)

Last known location: Chicago

Activity: Unknown

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Designation: Skystalker

Last seen as: Stealth UAV (Black)

Last known location: Chicago

Activity: Unknown

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Designation: Fearswoop

Last seen as: MiG-29 "Fulcrum" fighter jet (Orange with Tiger Patterns)

Last known location: Chicago

Activity: Unknown

.

Designation: Steelwing

Current Form: Lenco BearCat G3 (Steel with Swat Design)

Current location: Lost Springs, Wyoming, USA

Activity: Unknown in an area with a population of 4.

.

*Do not fail*


	2. A rough start

p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"23:06/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Eastern border of Converse County, Wyoming./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;".../p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Moonlight threw shadows onto the dirt path behind Sparkplug. Gusts of wind blew through the tall grass, sending silver stray blades his way. The yellow dune buggy drove forward, nearly black in this low-light backcountry. He kept his focus on his internal radar, watching it for any sign of change. If he found a single jump -a tiny blip- in its energy readings, then that would mean that he was on the right path, and he was not just pointlessly driving through abandoned grasslands for the past 8 hours. The con could feel the pebbles that had made their way into his systems and rattled about. He hated it. He hated every part of it. He hated the mud that coated the outer layer of his buggy form. He hated the low-light haze of -what did the humans call it?- midnight. He even hated how the cool country air left water droplets on the inside of his frame. emRust!/em Sparkplug had been searching the barren plains, mountains, and forests for so long, that he was concerned with catching rust./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"*CRASH*/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug was so 'concerned with following his radar' that he wasn't paying attention to his path. In his 'blindness', he had driven -at full speed- into a tree. This was not a stray tree. He had been driving for so long that he had left the plains entirely and he had entered a forest./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""Frag it all to the pit!" the tiny con screamed. He transformed into his robotic form and rubbed his sore byrnie. "Frag everything, I'm done here."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug transformed his servos into blasters and shot at the tree that had caught him off guard. The tree split in half, burst into flames, and lit its adjacent neighbor. Like falling dominoes, the forest caught fire. Sparkplug silently cursed at himself, transformed back into his buggy form, and drove back the way he came. As the bright trees disappeared behind him, and the dark night appeared in front of him, his radar spiked. Sparkplug increased his speed to full, and tried to decipher the spikes origin. Where could that energon be coming from? Behind him? No, that couldn't be right.../p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"*Boom*/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"A bright blue explosion followed him through the exit of the forest. The shockwave threw him forward -through the air- he flew the length of a football field before he crashed back down into the earth. Dirt flew up around him, and a trench-like trail was left behind him./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""Frack."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"He had been leaking energon. Flames had leapt from the trees to the forest floor and lit his trail a blaze. This was not his day. Not even remotely. Sparkplug pulled up File X03 and went through his mission details again. "Do not fail" Those words laughed in his face. "Success is essential." emUnlikely/em, Sparkplug thought to himself. If he could, he would've rolled his optics and scoffed at that last statement. If he couldn't survive a day out in the fleshlings' 'ruffs', then he doubted that Steelwing would have survived years, given she had probably faced the same predicament. It hadn't even been a day yet, and the Con had nearly blown himself up. He wished to be sent back to civilization, back to roads, cleaning facilities, and back to his fleshling servants. So what if they were below him? Those insects knew how to give his metal a proper cleaning.../p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug let out a long, heavy sigh, and then he revved his engine. He drove off in a new direction and waited for something to appear on his radar. Something... Something... Something had to be out here. Steelwing had to be./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;".../p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"3:42, The beginning of astronomical twilight./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Wyoming drowsily slipped from its black sheets and stumbled out of its once peaceful bed. Sparkplug activated his holoform, a white guy with a pedo-stache and sunglasses. Genius. He had to be careful. The black sky that used to conceal him in its darkness had faded into a mixture of Navy and Teal. The newfound light lent itself to all creatures' sight, and the tiny Decepticon couldn't risk being seen by a camera. If Soundwave found another one of his photos uploaded to one of those 'Alien' sites, Sparkplug would never hear the end of it. Not after the last time.../p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"His radar spiked. Well, "spiked" was a bit of an overstatement, but compared to the whole lot of nothing it used to be detecting, this tiny blip was a spike in its data. Humming with excitement, Sparkplug isolated the energy signature, and sped towards its location. The yellow speed buggy followed a pair of tire tracks that had flattened the grass. The path curved through the terrain like how a snake would slither through grass. Up ahead, Sparkplug could see a tinge of red light flicker on the edge of the dark blue horizon. At the path's end, the snake-like path opened into a clearing./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"A steel colored femme with SWAT Hummer kibble sat on a giant downed tree log, in front of a fire. The fire was almost as large as Sparkplug was. But, that wasn't what had caught the mech by surprise. Sparkplug was taken back by the femme's appearance. The fire cast light onto her armor, highlighting the many scratches and cuts that coated her frame from her servos to her pedes./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""Primus," Sparkplug muttered to himself, "What in the pitt happened to you?"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"The femme ignored the tiny yellow buggy. Her crimson optics stared up at the sky, half lost in the stars above, and the other half waiting for a shooting star to fall down beside her./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug transformed into his humanoid form and stepped into the clearing. His small frame paled in comparison to the femme in front of him. He would be considered lucky if another Con had mistaken him to be the size of Steelwing's leg. But, Sparkplug wasn't concerned with his size. In a pinch, he would be able to do just as much damage as any other Con could, just in a different way. Sparkplug sized himself up to the femme and decided that his perceived disadvantage was a blessing, not a curse. If he had been large enough to be considered a threat, he might not have been standing -alive- in that clearing./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug gulped and regained his composure. He had completed the first part of his mission, now he only had two more objectives left to go: information retrieval and usage./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""So," Sparkplug said to the femme, "you've seen better days."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""Are you referring to my battle scars?" The femme asked the tiny mech./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""It looks like you've been run over by a truck, and then fell into a wood chipper, and then got hit by a bigger truck. What in the pitt happened?"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""Masking the question in banter does not guarantee you an answer."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug rolled his optics. This femme would not be easy to coax information from. She saw right through his jest, and refused to give him information concerning Starscream's agenda, and her past missions under Starscream's command. Sparkplug needed a new approach./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""What?" Sparkplug took another step closer to the femme, "I can't ask about the well-being of a teammate?" He asked her./p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Steelwing laughed. "Having the same symbol does not make us comrades."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""You're a Decepticon, aren't you?"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""You're a dirty traitor, aren't you?"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""I serve Soundwave!"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""See?" Steelwing asked him. "The true Decepticons -including myself- only serve our true Lord. You are not my comrade."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug huffed, "Starscream is not a Lord!"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;""And you get worked up over something as simple as a technicality."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Sparkplug screamed, "Steelwing, Lord Megatron is dead!"/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"Steelwing rose from her sitting position and glared at the tiny yellow con. "Two things, Sparky," she told the tiny mech. "First, Megatron is our former Lord. Second -and most importantly- my name is Steel. Say it with me: Steel. Mess it up again, and you'll be personally discussing technicalities with our former Lord."/p  
p style="font-family: Times; font-size: medium;"emGreat/em, Sparkplug thought to himself. Not even an hour had gone by, and he was already receiving death threats./p 


	3. From Steelwing to Steel

Memorycore : Steelwing

Accessing the 8,000 BC XI958 Entry...

The sky erupted in cannon-fire. Steelwing flew through the blueish-green air of planet Deltorn. Oh, how she hated being away from home. Part of her had wished that she could have been stationed on Cybertron to protect Shockwave or something. But, no. Starscream had personally requested that she be transferred to his armada. The fragger had promoted her to be in his 'specialized task force'. Instead of relaxing on Cybertron with Shadow and Visage, Steelwing was forced to accompany Starscream to every fragging battle the Commander participated in. Steelwing mentally cursed the fragger. She wished she could be on Cybertron. But, no, that want was too insignificant for her superiors to recognize it as 'legitimate'. All because of Starscream, Steelwing was here, flying in the laser-infested skies of some no-name alien world, trying her best not to get blasted by the many Bots below.

Steelwing flew in her sleek, steel-colored cybertronian jet form. She gracefully evaded the lasers, spinning to avoid, tilting her wings away from their path, and she slid through the air before the lasers could even dream to reach her. She maneuvered through the air as if she was as weightless as Space Case was fast.

The laser-fire around Steelwing ceased. Three medium-sized Autobots flew behind Steelwing, and appeared on her radar. One was cloaked, and the other two seemed to be carrying devices that leaked dangerous amounts of energy. The cloaked Autobot was flying fast and was soon to overtake Steelwing. She killed her speed, and dropped behind the cloaked Autobot. Steelwing matched the speed of the other two Autobots behind her, and she waited for the Bots' reaction to "her sneaking into the middle of their V formation" play. When she was ahead of them, she could have easily done an in-air 180, turned to face the three behind her, and shot the three out of the sky, but where would the fun have been in that?

The two Autobots on Steelwing's tail shot at her. Steelwing spun, leaving the Autobots' laser fire to zoom past her, and their laser-fire hit their teammate in front of Steelwing, instread. The frame of the formerly cloaked Autobot caught fire, and burst into a cloud of black metal dust. Steelwing ducked beneath the dust-cloud. The two Autobots sped through the dust-cloud of their formerly-living teammate. The two Autobots were in what Steelwing could only describe as an 'irrational' rage. Both of them fired upon the flying femme. Steelwing easily avoided each and every one of their shots. She lowered her speed again. Both Autobots flew to her sides, one on each of her wings. As they prepared to slam into her, seeking to successfully crush her between them, Steelwing flew upward. The Autobots collided, smashing their energon-leaking contents into each other. A large blue explosion consumed the Autobots, and the skies for several hics in every direction. Steelwing increased her speed and flew straight up as the explosion trailed behind her tail. The energy soon faded behind her, making it clear to the femme that she was now safe. Steelwing was alone. She was still flying in a laser-infested sky-battle, but she was relatively safe. Especially considering that she just narrowly escaped a brilliant demise... But, that wasn't anything new for her.

Steelwing put her mind back on the mission at hand. She continued towards the set of coordinates the Commander had given her, and she didn't look back.

...

...

...

Memorycore : Steelwing

Accessing 2009 A13 Data Entry...

The two were standing in a field. Not a field as in a 'field' mission. Not a field of energon. Not even in a magnetic field. This was just an ordinary Earth field. There was nothing impressive about it. Steelwing couldn't put her digit on why exactly the Commander had told her to meet with him there. The two of them were just standing in the middle of a field. They were in the thick of it. The tall, thin, golden plants formed a sea around them and stretched to the top of their pedes. Relatively, the two cons were the same height, but that never really concerned her. She just kept it in mind to remind herself that if the height of the golden plants brushing against her pedes bothered her, then the plants probably bothered Starscream the same amount. So, she shouldn't complain about it to the commander.

But, both cons weren't even remotely concerned with the same topic. While Steelwing worried about the indigenous plant-life covering her with alien bacteria, Starscream was considering how to tell her how he felt. He knew that he had to use the correct words. He could not fail. He couldn't risk losing her. He couldn't risk the possibility that if he said the wrong combination of words, he would lose her forever... loyalty, trust, and everything else that she had to offer him.

"Steelwing," Starscream softly said to her, pulling the femme from her thoughts.

"Yes Commander?" She responded back to him.

Starscream hesitated briefly before continuing. "We've known each other for a long time, correct?"

"Commander," Steelwing said, "I've practically been by your side for every battle in this war."

"Good," Starscream said. "And you know that I am loyal, yes?"

Steelwing smirked, "You **were** the loyalest second in command that I've ever seen."

"Good." Starscream turned around, and stared into the distance. He said to his subordinate, "So then, you understand my frustration at the most recent set of events?"

 _Great_ , Steelwing mentally said to herself. Starscream was referring to the whole 'Megatron replacing him with Bludgeon' thing. _Sure, Megatron made a mistake. Megatron made many mistakes. He had just been resurrected for Primus's sake! No one said he was in the right mindset. He was killed by a puny Shia Labeouf-looking insect._ But, Steelwing knew that she couldn't tell Starscream that. She had to agree with him. If she didn't, he would never shut up.

"Of course, Commander Starscream," Steelwing said to him. "If I were you, I would be downright furious."

"I am," Starscream spat back, anger dripping from his words. "I have done nothing wrong! You can attest to that, can't you?"

Steelwing nodded. She didn't dare to interrupt him. She'd been around him long enough to know when he was going to erupt into a childish ranting-tantrum. If it wasn't about power, ending the war, or jealousy, then -and only then- would she owe Skywarp 20 shanix. Until then, she would wait, listen, and collect her ever-increasing pile of riches from the dimwitted member of Starscream's trine.

Starscream took Steelwing's silence as her assent, and continued without fear that she might go to Megatron and warn the lord of his former Commander's ideas of treason.

Starscream whined, "In exchange for my decades of loyalty and service, I am being thrown aside like some ravenous turbo fox! Where's the justice in that? I am a genius, I am loyal, I am an excellent leader, Primus! I led the Decepticons for decades against the Autobots while Megatron spent his time -in stasis- in the Arctic. I've proven myself to him, to everyone, and then he just replaces me for some lesser mech?"

Starscream's optics lingered on Steelwing. She wondered if his last question was anything more than rhetoric. Why else would he be staring at her for so long? Was he expecting her to answer him?

Starscream ended the silence, "Say, Steelwing?"

"Yes Commander?"

"You agree with me, right?"

"Of course Commander."

"Right..." Starscream rubbed both of his servos together. "I'm a smart mech," he said.

"And a brilliant strategist," Steelwing added on.

"Yes, but let's not talk about me. Let's talk about you. You are brilliant. Did I ever tell you that before? You're almost as smart as I am."

 _Right,_ Steelwing thought to herself. _Almost as smart._

"And you're an excellent fighter, you are incredibly useful -being a triple changer- not that you need to drive. You're a beautiful flier. And, possibly best of all, you know an injustice when you see one. Say, Steelwing, with our combined might, we could do anything."

Steelwing raised an optic ridge and asked him, "Like eliminate your rival?"

"Bludgeon?" Starscream chuckled to himself and said, "Megatron was a fool if he thought he could disenfranchise me, and by extension disenfranchise loyal fighters like yourself." He stepped closer to Steelwing and put an arm around her shoulders. He said, "With our combined strength, nothing can stand in our path. Trust me Steelwing, when I say that Bludgeon will only be the tip of the iceberg."

...

...

...

Memorycore : Steelwing

Accessing 2009 A92 Data Entry...

Today was what the humans called a Saturday. Steelwing had decided to better aquatint herself with the creatures' odd terminology because she was working closely enough with them to get annoyed at their constant reference to terms she didn't know... Saturday. It was an odd occurrence to say the least. On this day, this particular Saturday, the fourth day of their seventh month, all of the humans in the middle-most part of Northern America shot explosives into the sky. Steelwing thought it was odd, especially since the indigenous lifeforms weren't even aiming for anything in particular. They were just shooting blindly into the sky, and observing the explosions that they had wasted.

She and Starscream observed this odd occurrence from atop a beachside cliff. They both sat on the rocky ledge, letting their legs dangle over the edge, and they looked down on the humans who congregated on the beach below. Steelwing had thought their actions to be odd, while Starscream found their tradition to be a waste of time. Yet, both of them sat there, on that cliff, and watched the beautifully timed explosions that danced across the sky.

The two had decided not to fly on that night. But, their special brand of 'common sense' wasn't the same that their thrill-seeking comrades adhered to. No, their subordinates decided to run guns that night, as they had they night before, and the night before that, as they had for the past couple of months under Starscream's command.

Starscream and Steelwing laughed. The femme had taken advantage of the series of fortunate events that had led them to their current situation. She and Starscream recounted past experiences. Everything had gone according to their plan.

Bludgeon had died earlier that year. Once Starscream retook his place as second in command, he had the sensibility to prioritize his actions according to the general need of their species: obtain energon. But, problems occurred when Megatron led the energon-obtainment, and all other missions. The Cons failed each and every mission concerning energon retrieval. The Decepticon masses lost faith, left their Lord, and scattered across the planet's surface.

Megatron took the form of an indigenous land-vehicle, so that he could live relatively undetected. He was a coward. He hid from the Autobots. Megatron was so unsuccessful at leading an army, that he went into hiding. He moved his base of operations to Nambia, Africa, where he and his sparkmate Shadow raised his progeny along with the other 'pet' younglings. Very few Decepticons remained loyal to their Lord. Soundwave, Starscream, Igor, Shadow, and Steelwing were among the few loyal Decepticons who stayed with their lord in the Nambia Base.

Starscream tried to do what any loyal second in command would do. He tried to reason with Megatron. He tried to tell Megatron that the Decepticon cause needed to be united in order to be strong. But, Megatron didn't listen. It didn't take long for the two to have a major altercation. Of course the two would get into a fight. That's when Steelwing partnered up with her commander, and the pair travelled around the world, convincing Decepticons to reunite under their cause, under Starscream's leadership.

Starscream had built an army. He assembled a group of his most loyal followers -Steelwing, Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Space Case- to rule directly beneath him. What? He needed a form of government. The group of four had the split responsibilities of recruitment, tending to their army, and gun running.

The gun running was mostly Starscream's idea. Steelwing loved the way that her leader thought. Starscream manipulated different human groups into keeping his agenda. Starscream and his team of fliers provided the humans with cybertronian technology, and the humans did the dirty work: infiltration, control, causing distractions, obtaining materials, claiming land, fighting enemies, and sabotaging different human-based groups from within, including the Autobots' NEST team.

And -on the night of that particular Saturday- Thundercracker, Skywarp, and Space Case flew through booming skies, while Starscream and Steelwing sat together on a cliffside and watched the colorful explosions from below.

...

...

...

Memorycore: Steelwing

Accesing 2010 B74 Data Entry...

It was a trap that any Con should have seen coming. For the past year -with Megatron's oversight- Soundwave had spent his time attempting to recover Shockwave from the icy depths of Siberia. Well, no Decepticon was surprised when Shockwave was found. The last statement needs to be revised. No Decepticon under Megatron was surprised. But, the few Decepticons under Megatron's control were all high-ranking officials. The rest of the Earth-based Decepticons were united under Starscream's command. Starscream and his followers weren't even aware that Shockwave had crash landed on Earth.

Soundwave retrieved Shockwave from Siberia. Shockwave reported to Megatron in Nambia. Megatron wanted his army back from Starscream's control. It was only reasonable that Megatron would use Shockwave to strong arm Starscream and his crew into reaffirming their allegiance to Megatron. But, hindsight does nothing for history except for inspire feelings of pain and regret in its victims.

...

The group was standing in Nambia, Africa, inside Megatron's throne room of the Decepticon base. Starscream was livid. He went on and on about this, or that... Steelwing wasn't really paying attention. Her optics darted around the room. Shadow -Megatron's black armor wearing sparkmate- stood next to Megatron's throne. Megatron -who sat upon his throne- looked down on his former commander, completely unenthused. Soundwave stood to the right of Megatron's throne. The communications chief watched the traitorous group for any sign of hostile intent. The group did not budge. Starscream stood at the front. He spoke for the group. Thundercracker and Skywarp stood at Starscream's sides. The two were prepared for an all out war, if that's the way this interaction went. Behind the trine stood Space Case and Steelwing. Steelwing doubted that Space Case truly comprehended the situation, but her main concern wasn't with him. From time to time, she would turn her head over her shoulder -like she was doing now- and look back at Shockwave, just to make sure that Shockwave wasn't about to do anything rash. The scientist was given the duty to eliminate Starscream and his 'cronies' if Megatron commanded it. It weirded Steelwing out that each time she turned her head behind her shoulder, she saw the red eyed cyclops doing the exact same thing, staring right back at her. He stood, stoically, and watched the group with his cannon aimed at Starscream. Steelwing supposed that Shockwave was waiting for some sign from Megatron to execute them all, but she could never be sure with that mech.

Starscream had finished talking. Megatron returned Starscream's prattle with some sort of question. His tone sounded annoyed, but Steelwing wasn't entirely paying attention. She swiveled her head from the cyclops, back to her leader, and set herself back into the scene.

Starscream yelled at Megatron, "Of course I'm angry, you used me as bait!"

Megatron rose from his throne and roared at the seeker, "And you raised an army to usurp me!"

"I raised an army to raze an army! I told you that we needed to reunite our warriors under the Decepticon cause if we wanted any chance to destroy the Autobots!"

"And I told you to wait, listen, and to follow my orders!"

"And some good that would have done us! Do you know what I despise about your orders? They never got us anywhere! Just like you."

Megatron growled. Shockwave charged his blaster. Starscream continued.

The seeker patted himself on the chest and said, "I was the one who got us through the war. While you were frozen in ice-caps on earth, I was out in space leading our troops to victory. Then, you re-emerged, and all of our victories turned into losses. You died. You were killed by an insect. You lost us battles. You inspired our forces to leave you. They left for a reason!"

Megatron asked with a voice that froze the energon within their veins, "And what was that reason, Starscream? How deep do you want to dig your grave?"

Starscream choked on his own words, "Under my leadership..." Starscream looked into Megatron's glaring optics, and the former commander retreated back into his armor. He attempted to continue, "Under my leadership..."

"You what?" Megatron asked his subordinate. "You socialized with insects."

"I manipulated regimes!"

"By giving them our technology? Do you have any concept of the word 'backfire'?"

"So?" Starscream pointed his digit at Soundwave and yelled, "He used the fleshlings too!"

"Soundwave has a tight leash on his pets. I can assure you that. Your superior used the insects to regain technology far more useful to me than you are."

"Well!" Starscream steamed, "At least I wasn't as useless as Shockwave! He's been studied by the insects! How useful can a con be if he can't even escape from the humans' grasp?"

Megatron laughed, "What, are you referring to me? I -the Lord of the Decepticon cause- who vanquished Optimus Prime? Or, are you referring to your other superior -Shockwave- who in the short time he's been with us, has already extinguished the sparks of more Autobots than you have, destroyed their Earth-centered headquarters, and has brought me a traitorous group of Decepticons? And Starscream, since I am counting, all of this makes Shockwave more useful to me than you."

Starscream cried, "But I reunited our army! They reunited under me! Me! They chose me, not Shockwave, not Soundwave, and not you!"

"And trust me Starscream, they will know their error. Everyone will know their error, after an example is made out of disloyal traitors such as your team, and you."

"But, I was the leader! The Decepticons all wanted me! I'm not disloyal, you are! I should be the leader!"

Megatron exited his throne and walked up to Starscream. "You see, Starscream," Megatron looked towards Thundercracker, and the mech cowered. "The reason why you will never be leader," Megatron glared at Space Case, and the mech backed away. "Is because you don't know how to utilize fear." Megatron took a step towards Skywarp, and the con shook in his pedes. Megatron's gaze returned to Starscream. Megatron whispered into the seeker's audio precessor. By her commander's reaction, Steelwing could swear that Megatron's words were laced with tox-en. Megatron said, "Your followers fear me, more than they respect you... at the end of the day, you have no one whom you can entrust with your life."

Starscream gulped and backed up, right next to Steelwing. Megatron glared at the femme. But, she did not move from her commander's side. Starscream looked at the femme, and then returned his sights to Megatron. The seeker spat out, "Say whatever you want Megatron, but we both know that I was a leader!"

"And for that Starscream, you will suffer the most."

...

Warning: Memory Unstable

Shrieks of pain drowned out her every thought. She was once able to conceal them. She bit down on her glossa to keep her mouth shut and conceal them. But, her pain and weakness was found out. The pressure of her denta had torn through her glossa, and left the front half to fall out of her mouth, and onto the floor. But, the pain hadn't stopped with that. No, the torture had only begun.

Megatron had her chained in the Base's dungeon. Steelwing hung in the middle of the dark room, from a chain that wrapped around both of her wrists, and suspended her, leaving her pedes to dangle several units above the ground. Megatron walked around his victim, slowly taunting her, waiting for the right moment to strike, just as a predator stalked his prey, Megatron afflicted his prisoner.

...

Energon dripped from her mouth, periodically, with each and every open mouthed scream. The pool of her fluid soaked half of her once attached glossa. Her voice had given out. She hadn't had the energy to scream. She hadn't the energy to cringe, or flail, or to recoil from the pain. Yet, she still did. With every blow to her wings, sounds of terror and agony escaped from her voice box. With every tearing of her circuitry, she shook from the pain. Megatron was a composer of suffering. She even dreaded the moments between the pain. Every second her wings weren't being penetrated, she cowered from the anticipation and fear because she had the knowledge that the next blow would be more painful than the last. And for those brief moments when her audio detectors couldn't hear her own screams, they bathed in the sadistic laughter of her torturer.

...

The darkness had encroached on everything but sound. Steelwing couldn't see, and when she could, he was staring at her, observing her failed attempts of apologizing, or begging, or pleading, or he was just generally taking pleasure from the pain, fear, and suffering she exhumed. Darkness... Redness... Those eyes. Those red, blazing optics were the only thing she could see. She wondered what was worse, the deep sadistic laughter or the AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

The pain... it was as if Steelwing's very spark was being ripped to shreds. But, it was, and it had been. She had been. Even after the medic, she would never recover.

...

Warning: Memory Compromised.

"Steelwing... are you alright?"

The triple changer stood alone in the desert. Her wing-kibble was retracted. Her wheels were present. She stood in the midst of the high moon, the blowing sand, and wished to fade into the darkness above.

"Steelwing..."

The femme felt a servo rest upon her shoulder. She attempted to shake it off. She clenched her optics shut, and she shook her head.

"Stop it! Stop it!" She yelled. "Get away!" Her voice cracked and trembled. "Please," she said with energon leaking from her optics, "Just leave me be."

"You know I can't do that," Starscream said. She felt his voice whisper into her audio processor, "I'm never doing that again."

"Then, you're a fool."

"Then, we both are."

Steelwing felt the same weight of his servo return to her shoulder. But, this time, there was something different about it. This time, it was comforting. She hoped that it wouldn't leave her.

Starscream stood before the femme. He raised his free servo to Steelwing's face, and brushed away her tears with his digits.

"There, there, Steelwing," he softly said to her. "Everything will be fine." He wiped away the energon from her other cheek, and stroked her face. "I'm here now. I'm here with you now, Steelwing."

"No!" Steelwing violently shook her head. "No," she said. "You're not... I'm not."

She continued to feel his long, metal digits caress her face. They were gentle. They delicately traced the curvature of her faceplate. They started at her forehead, softly pressing into her metal, and slowly stroked downward, over every curve, until they reached her chin, and they let go. She felt them drop off. She dreaded when they left her. She craved his touch. Waves of sensation rippled from underneath her metal every time his servo returned to her.

In the softest tone imaginable, Starscream asked the femme, "You're not what?"

"Real." Steelwing opened her optics, only to find Starscream's warm red optics staring back into hers. She saw the reflection. It was as if she was staring into a comforting mirror. "Real," Steelwing repeated. "My wings," she muttered, "they aren't real." She looked down, away from Starscream, and said, "Not anymore." Her thoughts became jumbled. Her mind started to collapse in on itself. The best she could do was piece together the fragments. She wasn't Steelwing anymore. She couldn't be. She just couldn't. The line between her perception and reality had blurred beyond recognition. She stuttered, "I'm not... I can't be... I'm not really Steelwing anymore... Without them, I'm just Steel."

"Steel?" Starscream gripped both sides of Steelwing's head with his servos. He tilted her head towards his, and forced her to look back into his optics. They peered forward, into hers, questioning, almost as if he was looking for something. "Steel," he said to her, "I want you to show me."

Both of his servos fell from her faceplate. She retracted her automotive kibble, and brought forth her once-perfect wings. They were torn to shreds, 'unsalvageable' in the words of the Decepticon's medic. But, he had also been ordered never to fix them. Starscream looked upon her wings. He took-in every detail of their mutilation. He slowly moved one of his servos towards them. A single digit landed on the torn metal's surface. Steelwing shuddered at its touch. She shuddered in surprise. It was surprise that sent waves of tingling energy to run throughout her wing, and connect with her backstrut. She wasn't expecting the touch to be so gentle. It was gentle... he was gentle. After the events of the past 24 hours, she was sure that her wings would only ever be able to feel pain. She was sure of it. But, she was wrong. She had shuddered from the fear, from the anticipation of pain set off by damaged nerves and their connection to the horrifying memory Megatron had given her. She was expecting the pain to come as a reminder never to cross him. To never turn against Megatron, but the pain never came. Starscream's digit was gentle. His touch felt soft. He lightly trailed his digit down her metal, being sure to snake around the bare wire, torn panels, twisted metal, and stray lacerations. The touch sent ripples of pleasure throughout her frame.

"Steel," Starscream said seductively to the femme as he stroked her wing, "Your wings... They were always so beautiful... but they weren't the only thing that made you, who you are."

Starscream snaked one of his arms around the femme's waist and pulled her closer into him. He placed his other servo on her backstrut, and stroked the sensitive metal between both of her damaged wings, sending shivers of pleasure through her body, and causing her to release a slight moan. Starscream's digits danced on her backstrut, stroking, massaging -the very act of his digits brushing against her sensitive nerves erupted in rivers of pleasure for her- with every touch, she was overcome with a tingling sensation that rendered her immobile. She melted in his grasp -allowing him to hold her against him- leaning against his every being. Her legs trembled, falling into his, her pelvis rested against his cod piece, her chasis vibrated on his -humming from the overwhelming waves of pleasure- and her arms wrapped behind his neck, doing all they could to keep herself from falling before him. She had to stay standing. She would do whatever she could to stay standing, even if that meant holding onto Starscream for support.

Starscream leaned his face in towards hers. Every one of her moans sent him into a frenzy. He couldn't hold back any longer. Her lips parted. He entered her mouth. His glossa explored each and every inch of hers. It massaged its surface, wrestled hers into submission, and once he had shown his dominance, he pushed forward, feeling every soft surface available to him, Starscream created a mental map of his partner's cavity.

But, Steel wasn't going to just stand there and take it. No. Even though she spent every bit of energy she could muster trying to avoid an overload, she wasn't just going to stand there and let Starscream win. She wasn't weak, and she wasn't going to live to see herself become another object of Starscream's enjoyment. She treated the interaction as a game, and one she wouldn't lose easily. If he could manipulate her into feeling weak like this, then she would make him tremble beneath her touch.

Steel regained control of her servos. She used one to caress the side of Starscream's head, feeling her Commander push himself into the curve of her palm, craving each second of contact, and shuddering the instant her servo left his metal. She used her other servo to massage the back of his neck -gripping and releasing the metal at the beginning of his backstrut- forcing waves of sensation to ripple down his frame, loosening every bolt in his body. After the third wave ran through him, Starscream couldn't hold it in any longer. He had lost control. His glossa fell -limp- and his vocals moaned loudly into her open mouth. Her own glossa took the upper hand and massaged the soft metal glossa of his. Every push against his glossa forced a loud, vibrating moan to exit his mouth, and to enter hers. Steel took advantage of his open mouth, and moved her glossa into his cavern, playfully licking the curved surface of his sharp teeth,and slowly moving across the soft metal-sythetic flesh-like substance that coated the roof of his mouth and his inner cheeks. Every brush of her glossa erupted in a long, moan from him, that caused her own glossa to vibrate.

Starscream lifted his arms from Steel's waist and lower back. Steel rewrapped her arms behind Starscream's neck in order to stay standing, after the mech removed what had been previously holding her to him. Starscream carefully ran his digits up and down the surface of her highly-sensitive wings. Steel shuddered, and let the sensation consume her. Her glossa fell against his, and he regained control. Their lips parted, and a devious smirk grew on Starscream's faceplate. He was in control. He was the one with power. He had all the power. No wonder Megatron valued Shadow to such a great extent. Starscream thought that, with Steel in his possession, he could be a king. He could manipulate another sentient, playing with her every being, being the one to control her every twitch, shudder, and moan.

...

Megatron had made examples of Starscream and his loyal pack of followers. Megtaron had to. The Lord of the Decepticon cause couldn't allow their acts of treason to go unpunished. If Megatron didn't discourage such acts, then other Cons might have attempted them.

Megatron punished Starscream and his close followers for conspiring against their Lord. All were tortured in one way or another. Oh, how Megatron loved to torture... He took enjoyment in ripping their wings to shreds. Megatron personally destroyed Starscream's wings, then allowed Scalpel to repair them, just so that Megatron could destroy them again. This vicious cycle of pain repeated for what seemed to Starscream like an eternity. Once Megatron felt relatively pleased with himself, he allowed Starscream's wings to be sealed up, and left alone to heal. Starscream cried like a youngling when his wings were repaired. Not only were the repairs painful, but the Seeker expected that he would have to endure Megatron's torture once they were done being repaired. After the physical punishment was over with, Megatron made Starscream his fourth in command, ranked lower than Shockwave and Soundwave. As far as sheer pain went, Starscream got it the worst. But, that didn't mean that the rest of his conspirators would be spared. Megatron repeated a lesser version of punishment on the two other members of Starscream's trine. Thundercracker and Skywarp's wings were tortured, and repaired, then tortured and repaired again. Megatron wanted to make sure that they could both fear and anticipate the pain they would be suffering for a second time. He had to be sure the two would prioritize their fear of Megatron over their loyalty to their trine. Megatron savored their wails of pain, the shrill cries of their begging, and the silent shaking of their fear. In the end, all three seekers were fully repaired, but Steelwing and Space Case didn't get to be so lucky. Both of the fliers wings were ripped to shreds like the seekers, but they only suffered through the pain once. When Space Case was being repaired, Megatron made it part of the flier's punishment to be repaired incompletely. Space Case had his ability to fly in space stripped from him. Steelwing visited the medic for bodily repairs, but her wings were never touched. After Megatron's punishment, they would never be tended to by a Decepticon medic again. Her ability to fly was taken from her. Megatron sent the word out to all Decepticon medics, that they would not be able to repair what he had done to both Space Case and Steelwing concerning flight and space travel.

Steelwing and Space Case were the only ones who were permanently damaged. The seekers went through horrifying pain that would continue to haunt them, Starscream had his power ripped from him, and the triple changer and space flier had their identities taken from them. All five were punished to be made examples of. All five held grudges. And... all five would go on to survive the battle of Chicago, while Megatron, his sparkmate, and their offspring did not.


	4. Work and Play

"And you get worked up over something as simple as a technicality."

Sparkplug screamed, "Steelwing," that designation screeched against her audio receptors. The tiny little mech yelled at her, "Lord Megatron is dead!"

Of course she knew that. But, she couldn't just let some no-name mech treat her like a traitor. She was a Decepticon. She was a true Decepticon. Why would this neon yellow big-ego dune buggy intentionally remind her of her punishment? That was years ago. She wasn't the same femme, and she was never a traitor. So, she couldn't fly. So what? Megatron stole her ability to fly from her, and he did it under the guise of patriotic retribution. 'Justice'. What a fragging joke. But, Steel still couldn't get that idea out of her processor. She was the one who she made herself who she was. That's what she had told herself. She could be whoever she wanted to be. She wasn't what Megatron had declared she was. She could not fly. She did not need to be reminded of it.

The tiny mech's words repeated in her mind.

"Lord Megatron is dead, Steelwing."

She couldn't stand that designation. **Steelwing.** But, the word just kept repeating in her processor. She had to do something to make it stop. She was actually starting to feel regret this time, and she couldn't have that. Starscream couldn't have that. Megatron's death led to the commander's promotion. It was the right move. **Steelwing...** Regret, anger, oh so much anger. It was clouding her thoughts. She had to make it stop.

Steel got off of her log and stood up. She offlined her optics for a brief moment and she shook her head. She onlined her optics, and glared at the tiny yellow mech. She had to. He was the cause of her anger. She couldn't let the tiny mech repeat his mistake.

Steel spoke with an edge of anger in her voice, "Two things, Sparky." She had gained Sparkplug's full attention. He shivered. She lifted one of her digits and continued, "First, Megatron is our former Lord." Starscream was their current Lord. He was hers anyway. Steel rose another digit and said, "Second -and most importantly- my name is Steel." She dropped both of her digits and hoped that he got the message, "Say it with me: Steel." The little mech remained silent and stared up at her with a vacant expression. She sighed out of anger and threatened the small-fry, "Mess it up again, and you'll be personally discussing technicalities with our former Lord."

Sparkplug gulped. He would have to think twice before speaking to the femme again. But, Steel deduced that Sparkplug would force himself to. It was his mission. It was why he was here, attempting to coax information from her. It was no secret that Soundwave wanted to regain the fliers under Starscream's command. Primus, Soundwave was so desperate for order that he wanted Starscream back on his side. Soundwave wanted control, and he couldn't control the situation if a group of Decepticons went wherever, whenever, doing whatever Soundwave couldn't predict or account for. Soundwave wanted information. The mech wanted control. Starscream supposed that the communications chief only wanted to re-establish communications in order to steal away power from himself, Starscream, the new and true Lord of the Decepticons. Steel had indulged Starscream's fantasies of such. She didn't care to be given orders by the lowly communications chief, especially since Soundwave still held a grudge against them for what happened in Chicago.

The femme sat back down on her giant-fragging log and stared into the red-orange fire. She enjoyed how its warmth heated her metal plating. Steel looked up into the dark blue sky and watched for moving objects. It was too early to give up all of her hope. Starscream did enjoy to surprise her with his visits from time to time. The starlight slowly faded as the sky lightened. Steel wished she could see the sun of Cybertron. She imagined that her world's inhabitants didn't have to deal with the same chilly mornings. She hoped that the planet had returned to its original orbit after the Sentinel pillar-space-bridge fiasco. She wanted to go back and visit her home. She missed the comfort of her berth. She missed a lot the more than she thought she would. But, that all had to wait. Starscream didn't have a plan to return yet. Steel recalled her thoughts from the heavens by reminding herself of her not-entirely-uninvited guest. Soundwave might have envisioned a way to return home. Steel hadn't lost that thought.

Sparkplug inched his way farther into the clearing. He walked by the firelight and hoisted himself onto the log. He sat next to Steel. The femme heard his aft plop down next to her. She moved her optics down to him, and thought of the many ways she could use his presence to her advantage. Sparkplug certainly didn't hide his intent. He came for information. He was eager for it. She could use that to her advantage. But, she wouldn't let him get his answers quickly. She wasn't going to break easily. Steel rose from her sitting position and walked to stand in another position in front of the fire.

"So," Sparkplug said, trying to clear the air, "let's discuss technicalities."

Steel questioned, "Really? You won't just get worked up as you did before?"

"No!" Sparkplug shouted. He pinched the bridge of his nose and he sighed. "That was you," he said.

"Over a technicality?" Steel questioned. "That doesn't sound like me."

Sparkplug dropped both of his arms to his sides and let them rest on the log. "Look," Sparkplug said, "Can you please work with me on this?"

Steel toyed with him, "On what?" She asked him.

"On my mission!"

"So, you admit it then?"

"Yes. Fine. Whatever to get you to comply."

"Comply? That's a demanding word from a puny mech."

"I'm not puny! I'm unsuspecting!"

"Okay Sparkplug," Steel said, "You're unsuspecting." He was so unsuspecting that he didn't realize he was playing right into her grasp.

"Good!" Sparkplug yelled. "Now that we have the ice-breaking chatter out of the way, let's get to business."

Steel raised her servos in front of her as if to say that she didn't object. "Fine," she said, "what did you come here for?"

"I came to re-establish communications with Starscream."

"Isn't that supposed to be Soundwave's job?"

"No."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, of course I'm sure. Lord Soundwave has more important matters to attend. This is my mission."

Steel noted Sparkplug's usage of Lord. The mech had a forgetful memorycore. She could use that to her advantage. Oh, what kind of fresh pitt he'd enter into, and what kind of relief she'd gain. Steel imagined what it would be like if she was to trap a Decepticon doctor and be fixed to fly again.

Steel pushed the tiny mech and asked him again, "And your mission is?"

"To re-establish communications with Starscream!"

"So, why didn't you go and talk to him?"

Sparkplug erupted in a shout. "Agh! I didn't fracking talk to Starscream because I don't know where he is! No one knows where he is! Soundwave doesn't even know where the fragger is!"

"So, you thought that I do?"

"Of course! You are his sparkmate, aren't you?"

"Partner," Steel emphasized, "I'm not just some femme he frags."

Sparkplug had just about reached his limit. He screamed, "Partner, sparkmate, whatever! I don't care. What I do care about, is completing my mission! Get that into your processor. I'm not just some plaything here to entertain you. Now, are you going to help me re-establish communications with Starscream or not?"

"Don't you also have to coax information from me about my other teammates and their whereabouts?"

"Why can't you take this seriously, Steelwing!"

In mere seconds Sparkplug fell off of the log, energon spilling out from the inside of his chest. Steel had blasted a new cavity next to his spark chamber.

Steel transformed her blaster back into a servo and told the mech, "I am."


	5. How she got those scars

Memorycore : Steelwing

Accessing 2013 D20 Entry

Streetlights receded into the distance. Steel checked her SWAT car's mirrors and she sped forward. She had lost the red, white, and blue truck about a block ago, but the silver Lamborghini with blue highlights was still hot on her trail. Several blocks ahead of her, Steel could detect the converging Autobot group. They thought that they were being stealthy. How foolish... Steel took a hard left and skidded into an alleyway. The silver and blue blur behind her couldn't react fast enough, and the Autobot missed the turn. Steel continued forward through the alleyway, and opened up her COM link.

"I've lost them," Steel said.

"Good," Starscream responded. He was standing with his men in the middle of the Autobots' DC base. He and his subordinates worked to relocate the Autobots' hefty supply of energon. Steel felt better just hearing his voice.

Skywarp's voice rung through the link after his trinemate's, "What do you mean by good, Lord Starscream?"

Starscream yelled at his subordinate, "It's good to know that your incompetence hasn't lead to Steel's demise!"

"Hey!" Skywarp screamed back, "It's not my fault that the Autobot base has a security system."

Thundercracker rolled his optics and chimed in, "But, it is your fault that the system was triggered."

Steel exited the alleyway and observed her surroundings. The streets of Washington DC were eerily empty. She drove down an empty street. No cars were parked on its edges. No fleshlings walked on its sidewalks. No movement could be detected. Steel carefully drove in the hush of night, passing tall, and seemingly abandoned buildings.

Steel asked into the link, "What are my orders? If you want me to return to the rendezvous point, now might be the best time to make that call."

Skywarp snickered. Thundercracker slapped his trine member upside his head, and motioned for them both to get back to work.

Starscream responded, "Due to some incompetence," Starscream glared at Skywarp who was lifting a container of energon. Starscream told Steel, "We are running a bit behind schedule."

 _Great,_ Steel thought to herself. She scanned her surroundings, yet again. Little energon blips appeared on the edge of her radar. _Autobots..._ They were approaching her from the north and the east. Steel picked up her speed and headed south down the street. She took a right and headed west.

"Reengage the Autobots," Starscream said, "Keep them occupied while we finish up here."

"Got it," Steel replied.

And with that, Steel dropped from the link, isolating herself from her comrades as she had before. She observed her surroundings once again. The streets of the city were nearly empty. The sidewalks on this new stretch of cement were abandoned as well. Steel thought to herself that all the insects in the city must have been tucked away, sleeping. And then, out of nowhere, an unwanted miracle happened. Steel found an exit. If all of Primus's wrath were about to reign down upon her, she would be able to escape the city. The Decepticon femme nearly stopped in her tracks, as she turned towards the bridge next to her. She stared down the straightaway, which continued across the bridge, and led away from the city. She sighed, slowed down, and transformed before it. Steel stood, drew both of her blasters, and waited in the topmost middle of the street's cement T. She had to secure her escape route if she wanted to survive the night.

Within seconds, the first Autobot arrived on the scene. Steel raised her blaster towards the Lamborghini, and aimed it to where the bot was going to be. Steel conserved her nearly depleted energon reserve, and allowed the Lamborghini to swing around to the other side of the bridge and block off Steel's exit to the right. _Knight..._ _That means that Optimus isn't far behind._ The Autobot transformed into a tall sapphire optic'd, silver plated femme.

Steel tried not to pay much attention to her former friend. They were like sisters, the four of them were. But, now, one of them was dead, one of them glared right back at her, and the last lay in wait on the other side of the galaxy, plotting her revenge. Steel sarcastically thought to herself 'What _fun',_ she would be having this night. But, Steel wasn't paying the femme enough attention. Knight glared at the Con. The moonlight reflected off of her silver frame, adding contrast to Knight's dark blue detail that outlined the seams of her armor, and the femme's no longer glaring sapphire optics.

"Give up Steelwing," Knight said to Steel, "Comply and you get to keep your life."

Steel pointed her blaster at Knight's head and said, "The name's Steel, now. Choose your words carefully Knight, or you'll end up like Megatron."

Knight scoffed, "Are you trying to threaten me? Wasn't Bucket Head your leader? No offense Steel, but you're really bad at making threats."

Steel mentally yelled at herself _: "And you're really bad at STALLING! At least you can't tell that I'm doing it. It's called being inconspicuous. Go teach it to your teammates. Wait, what? You can't hear me? I'm just thinking to myself to allow you to stall for more time by talking? What? That's just ridiculous."_

Steel hadn't realized it, but in annoyance, she had been letting her mental rant spill over into her and Starscream's bond. The seeker snickered to himself inside of the Autobots' base. Oh, how his sparkmate's humor got to him. He nudged her through her link, and she almost jumped from the shock. She forced herself to silence her own thoughts, and focus on the matter at hand. She had to pay attention to the stalling femme. Steel was caught off guard three times too many this night. She didn't want to give her sparkmate any more reasons to ban her from the battlefield.

Steel listened to Knight's overdrawn 'speech', if you could even call it that.

Knight continued to explain just how flawed Steel's threat had been. Steel could swear that the femme was bragging about the outcome of the war. "Our leader, Optimus, is still giving long, drawn out speeches about friendship while Ol' Bucket Head gathers rust. So, Miss 'my faction doesn't have a unified form of government... Doesn't that mean that your side is losing?"

Knight stared at her opponent, waiting for Steel to answer the rhetorical question. And, as she had always done in the past, Steel took the rhetoric and threw it back to the overgrown tool.

Steel activated her visor, which now masked her face, and Steel glared at Knight. She told Knight in a serious tone, "Not while I stand and fight."

Their collective stalling had paid off... unfairly.

The other Autobots drove into view and blocked off Steel's right exit. They transformed. The fraggers got into an umbrella formation on the road in front of Steel. Steel rolled her optics and hoped that her teammates would finish up soon. Steel turned her hope into anger, and received a boost of cybertronian adrenaline. She looked at the Autobots and scowled. _Those showy pieces of scrap,_ she thought to herself. They all boasted different unique color patterns. Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Arcee, Chromia, Roadbuster, Topspin, Leadfoot, Hound, Crosshairs, and Knight. _What a sickening show of power._

Optimus boomed, "Give up Steel!"

Steel sighed happily to herself. The Prime had been listening in on her and Knight's conversation. Steel guessed that the Autobot fools were dumb enough to enter into battles with their COM links in tact. Didn't they know that they could easily be tagged, traced, and hacked through their open channels? Another small victory for the intellectually adept, Steel concluded.

Optimus continued with his booming voice, "We have you surrounded!" He yelled.

 _No_ , Steel reminded herself, _I could always flee on the open path behind me._ _It's a bridge, and you don't have that exit blocked behind me._ But, Optimus wasn't entirely wrong. Steel glanced over the Autobot forces. That's when she realized just how outnumbered she was. The sheer number of her enemies hit her, like a truck. The Prime, Bumblebee, Ratchet, Sideswipe, Arcee, Chromia, Roadbuster, Topspin, Leadfoot, Hound, Crosshairs, and Knight did form quite a formidable wall. If Steel transformed to escape, the shooters could shoot her off of the bridge. But, Steel only had a little doubt that the Bots' laser fire would be able to keep up with her speed. She was able to out drive them before on the streets of Washington, DC. She would be able to escape them again. Loud rotating blades spun in the distance. The power of the sound caught the femme's attention. _Grindor?_ Steel questioned. _No._ The sound wasn't loud enough. The helicopter producing it was too small to be the Decepticon 'Copter Grindor. It was either the humans or... _Drift. That fragging traitor!_

Steel looked over her shoulder and confirmed her suspicions as the blue helicopter drew nearer. _So, my exit is blocked?_ Steel thought to herself. Steel sighed. But, she had to stay positive. _At least there is no one left on Base to attack Starscream..._

She used the seeker as her motivation. If she ever wanted to look into his cocky red optics again, she would have to think her way out of her current situation. How hard could that be? Autobots were stupid, every Decepticon knew that. Steel just had to manipulate them. Decepticons were good at that. _Manipulate... persuade, stall, perhaps even leak false information? Perhaps... I might even be able to get a good couple of shots in there._ Steel looked back over to the wall of Autobots and considered her options. _Worst comes to worst, I'll call for Fearswoop. Yeah, he'd make one nice distraction for my getaway._

...

Memorycore: Steelwing

Accessing 2013 C12 Entry

 _Why is it always a field?_ Steel looked up at the sky. At least it was a scenic field. Its vegetation was an odd mixture of green, gold, and orange. On one side of the field stood tall grass that rose to her knees, and to the other side, on the outskirts, the field grew out into a forrest. Farther off into the distance, Steel could see mountains, plains, a river, and an extremely small town. She had to hand it to Starscream, at least he chose a field with the high ground. With a view like she had, she knew that she definitely had the high ground. _Good._ With the way that Shadow used to talk about volcanos and the high ground, Steel knew that no matter what opponent she was facing, she would be able to spot him from at least a mile away, and kick his aft when he would eventually arrive.

Steel watched the stars as she continued to ignore her partner's explanation.

"And thus," Starscream concluded as he gestured to Steel, "You are safe."

Steel rolled her optics at his closing statement. Steel sent waves of annoyance to Starscream through their link. "Starscream," Steel said, "You've left me so much material, I don't know where to start picking it apart."

Starscream stepped towards her with a gleam of hope in his optics. The seeker raised an optic ridge and asked Steel, "By 'picking it apart' do you mean that you wish to isolate the separate pieces of my plan, and then to individually praise each point?"

"No, Starscream," she said, "No, I do not."

"Are you certain?"

"Yes, Starscream! I am!"

"There's no need to get loud about it."

"How else am I supposed to make myself heard over your fragging ego?"

"Hey! Leave my ego out of it! I am Lord Starscream, and you are to obey my each and every command!"

"No!" Steel offlined her optics. She pinched the bridge of her nose and she sighed. "No," she said in a much calmer voice, "No, I will not."

Starscream pushed both of Steel's arms down to her sides. He took Steel's head in both of his servos and he stared into her offlined optics.

"Look at me," he said.

Steel onlined her optics, and stared into his. They burnt with his passion. She couldn't argue with him when he was in a state like this. She just couldn't. When he was in one of these moods, Starscream would refuse to listen to anyone but himself.

"Steel," Starscream told her, "I need you to listen to me right now."

Steel told him through their link _, "Not when you refuse to listen to me."_

Starscream responded through their link, " _I am listening."_ His voice was shaking. She could feel it. His side of the bond was quivering. It was soaked in their shared annoyance, and nearly drowned in his own worry.

Starscream stared into Steel's red optics, and wished that she could stare back into his, but she was just looking right through him. She wasn't even trying to listen to reason.

"Steel," he said to her, "I need you to stay out of danger."

"I can take care of myself."

Starscream growled, "Then explain your injuries!"

"A miscalculation," she said, "It won't happen again."

"Of course it won't happen again," Starscream told her as he stroked the side of her head, "I won't allow it to happen again. I won't allow you to see the Autobots again. I won't allow them to give you another scratch. Not another dent. Not ever again."

"But," Steel's spark beat faster, "You can't be sure of that."

He caressed her cheek, gently running his digit down her soft metal skin. He leaned forward and whispered into Steel's audio processor, "But, I can my dear," " _femme_..." The seeker stretched out his words, giving them a seductive tinge. Steel hung on every one of them, unwilling to interrupt him. He told her through their link, " _You're safe with me._ "

" _I'm safe without you._ "

" _But, you're safer with me._ "

Starscream's words put Steel into a daze. She melted into his grasp. After every word, she waited for his next. His each and every sound washed over her spark, leaving her content, and calmed. She felt safe. She felt secure. She felt cared for. For, she believed every word. She fell into his servos as they stroked her metal skin. She wanted to stay in this state for a lifetime... but she knew that she wouldn't.

"Starscream," she moaned his name, and forced herself to finish the rest of her sentence, outside of their bond. It was messing with her argument. She said to him, "you're a Lord. You can't always be by my side."

"That's precisely why you must stay out of danger."

"I do. That's why I'm opposed to this plan of yours."

"You cannot fly, therefore you cannot flee... You need to be somewhere no one else would be able to find you..."

"A place like this?"

"Precisely. There are plenty of places to hide. You have access to a road and a town. And, best of all, there are no threats."

"This town has four fleshlings."

"Exactly. Four. Not enough to pose a threat, but enough to ensure that the town won't be visited by other Decepticons, Autobots, or MECH."

"That's exactly my point, this place has four. That's not enough to maintain a SWAT. I'd stick out like a Megatron-hater in the DJD."

"If you were in a town with a SWAT, then the SWAT would notice that you are not with them."

"If the town was a city large enough, then I would be able to just fade into its structure."

"An F-22 Raptor can't just fly in and out of busy cities. Besides, the insects might be putting energon detectors in their cities. You aren't safe there. This is one of the few rural areas that has slipped underneath their radars."

"But, you and the others fly into their radars-" Starscream placed his digit onto Steel's lips and hushed her.

"We can flee," he said.

" _I don't want to be out here all alone. You're isolating me from the other 'Cons. I don't want to just be safe. I want to be useful. I can help. I want to help."_

"But my dear Steel, you are. I want you to stay in this deserted area and be safe. The other fliers and I can deal with manipulating the fleshlings' world. We can take care of the details of our plan. I just need you to be safe."

Steel looked down at her pedes and pouted.

Starscream placed a digit underneath her chin, and lifted her head, so that her gaze met his own. He spoke to her through their bond. " _I'll drop in and accompany you every so often... Imagine it. Silent nights, just the two of us... bonding underneath the light of the stars, and warmed only by our overheated frames, and the occasional flickering flames of a romantic fire."_


	6. Medic!

The silver shoe-sized Decepticon didn't want to be disturbed. Of course precautions had been taken. Scalpel had told Grindor not to wake him. He had turned off his COM Link when his teammate entered US Airspace. The Doctor had been unavailable since then. "Important business" is what he had told Soundwave... The doctor smiled in his recharge. His legs twitched as he lay in Grindor's pilot seat. Scalpel dreamt his favorite dream. He could hear the delicious screams of his patients. Oh, how the Auto-scum howled! The doctor's blade glided through his patient's armor. Energon slowly seeped from the wound. Scalpel reached into his subject, and pushed away the synthetic flesh on both sides of his incision. The Auto-scum's protoform scraped against his armor's metal.

*CRASH*

Scalpel crashed against the metal floor beside the pilot seat. His teammate was in the middle of a sharp mid-air turn. Scalpel slammed into the cockpit's wall and noted his teammate's change in flight pattern. Scalpel braced himself for any further maneuvers, but none came. Grindor finished his turn and leveled out. Silence filled the air. The Doctor held his glossa. He wanted to grumble to himself about his sore aft, or his bruised leg, or how he was pulled from his favorite dream! But, he also wasn't sure why Grindor woke him. Were they being attacked? Scalpel couldn't be certain of anything. He had just woken up. His processor was still a little slow. Nevertheless, if they were being threatened, Grindor probably needed to spend all of his focus on the immediate threat, and not on a disgruntled medic.

Breems passed. Scalpel assumed that if there was a threat, it had been neutralized.

"Grindor?" The Doctor asked his teammate in their native tongue, "Are we under attack?"

"No."

"Were we under attack?"

"No."

The Doctor screamed, "Then why did you wake me!"

"I received an emergency signal from Sparkplug."

"What does the pipsqueak need this time?"

"Your services."

Scalpel rolled his optics, "Great," he said sarcastically, "Another repair call. That's exactly what I wanted to wake me from my recharge."


	7. The State of Driving

Steel hid in the forest adjacent to her campsite. Steel hated the trees. She hated how they loomed over her. She hated how their leaves dared to brush against her armor. She hated each and every molecule that made up their bark. _Why couldn't they be made of metal?_ She asked herself. She thought with annoyance: _Organic life._ After what had seemed like decades on the Dirt-named planet, Steel could definitively say that she hated organic life. She hated the trees, she hated the insects, and she hated the fleshlings who destroyed the pillars. _They destroyed the space bridge... those aliens, those fleshy aliens..._ They weren't worth her time. Steel had other matters to worry about. Her link was down, her transmitter was off, and she stayed still, watching the tiny neon yellow fragger -200 meters in front of her- squirm while he lay in his ever expanding pool of shiny liquid.

A glimmer of blue flashed on the horizon. Steel identified it as the light blue CH-53E Super Stallion heavy-lift helicopter that she was waiting for. _Grindor_. If Space Case's info was right -and it was rarely wrong- then the Doctor was incoming. His ride almost blended into the light blue sky. But, Steel kept an optic on it. It was civil twilight, not an act of civil war. The sun would be up soon, and then she would be easy to spot. But, for now, she needed to worry about her target being easy to spot. She needed to keep it in her sights. She had enough energon to make one decisive shot, and that was all she needed. Grindor flew closer, staying low to the ground. Trees got in the way of her shot. No good. Steel questioned whether or not she should change her position. If she did, she would lose her cover. She wanted to stay unseen. But, that's not what the femme needed. She had the energon. She had the skills. She had the teammate, and she had the motive. What Steel needed now, was a clear shot.

Patience persevered. Grindor landed. The mech transformed. He was grumbling in cybertronian as he stood -tall- over the downed neon-yellow mech. Steel couldn't distinguish the mech's words from the bird calls and blowing wind. But, she could make out his tone. His voice was harsh, rough, like sand paper. He was pissed. Steel could tell. Grindor wasn't concerned with Sparkplug. Grindor was concerned with Sparkplug's target. _**Where did she go?**_ Sparkplug could barely respond to his savior. He conserved his energy. The tiny mech didn't dare to make a sound. Grindor growled. He held out his servo to Sparkplug. Steel focused in on the chopper's hand. _Enhance._ The tiny silver Doctor scurried from Grindor's palm over to his patient. Grindor still needed his answer. Just as Steel had planned it, Grindor would encourage Scalpel to fix Sparkplug, as long as the Attack Helicopter needed questions answered and a mission to complete. The Doctor started his work on Sparkplug's torso.

The three mechs were distracted. Steel lined up the shot. Grindor's neck cables were in her sights. Click. A laser burnt a hole through them, and exited the other side of Grindor's neck. The mech stalled for a few seconds. His optics dimmed to a faint red. His vocals spurted sounds similair to an Earth-ican car engine that refused to start. His peds twitched. He lost his footing. His helicopter blades drooped from his shoulders blades. _Timber._ The tall, light blue decepticon toppled backwards, unconscious, unmoving, and temporarily mute. A dust cloud rose into the air. _New cover._

Steel wanted to move. Oh, how she wanted to move. She saw her best opportunity to just grab the Doctor and go under the cover of a giant aft dust cloud. But, she couldn't move. Something wouldn't let her. His words wouldn't let her. _"You're safest when you're out of the way."_ She offlined her optics and shook her head. Starscream's voice repeated in her audio receptors. _"Please Steel, I need you. Stay safe. Please. Do it for me."_ The dust cloud started thinning. Her time window was closing. Steel wanted to move forward so badly, but she couldn't life her pedes. She just couldn't.

Steel grit her denta and mentally cursed at herself. _MOVE!_ Steel onlined her optics. She could just barely make out the 'Cons in the distance. The dust cloud was almost gone. Why couldn't she move? Where was the threat? Sparkplug was damaged. His transmissions wouldn't send. Scapel was too tiny for his COM Link to send far range signals without Grindor's assisting boost. Scapel was too tiny to do damage to her. Sparkplug hadn't enough energon to waste some on a pointless battle. Grindor had created the dust cloud. He wasn't in any state to get up and move anytime soon. All possible fighters were neutralized. Backup was unlikely. _Unlimited time and no resistance._ The dust cloud dissipated. Her trophy focused on his primary patient. Maybe he assumed the larger one to be dead. Steel wasn't sure, but she also didn't think it was important. None of it was. With all threats eliminated, Steel moved in.

The femme cautiously exited the forest, and moved away from the tree line. She kept an optic on Scalpel and she gulped. He wasn't concerned in the least. Steel kept her blaster raised, and walked next to Sparkplug. Scalpel didn't even look up. He just continued cutting beneath Sparkplug's armor, and played with wires that Steel couldn't see.

"Sloppy shot," Scalpel said in english as he worked beneath Sparkplug's armor, "An easy fix."

The Doctor connected the last of the wires, and Sparkplug's optics sparked back online. His audio sputtered as he assessed the situation. The tiny mech coughed, and attempted to sit up. With Scalpel still standing on his chest, Sparkplug fell back down to the ground and went into a recharge.

"Idiot."

Steel told Scalpel, "Don't be too hard on the runt. Sparkplug was never qualified for the mission."

"Not him," Scalpel screeched, "you!"

Steel was speechless. _Me?_

Scalpel switched tones. He spoke in his scratchy native tongue, " **You're wasting my time and energy by damaging your teammates. What did you hope to gain by luring me here?** **Did you really think that I would fix you?** "

Steel pointed her blaster at Scalpel and said, "You don't have a choice."

Scalpel laughed, " **I don't have a choice?** "

Steel gestured to his fallen teammates, she told the Doctor "You have no one here to protect you."

Scalpel shook his head, " **I am the only Decepticon Doctor on this Primus foresaken rock**. **You wouldn't dare to damage me.** "

"The Autobots have a Doctor."

" **If you were going to make that play -and use theirs- you would've done so a long time ago.** "

"Nothing's stopping me from doing so now."

A voice rose from the back of her mind and asked her: Not _even Starscream?_

" **Then why are you wasting your time with me?** "

Steel re-aimed her blaster at Scalpel's head. "I'm not bluffing," she said. "I'm being serious."

" **And so am I.** " Scalpel moved over from Sparkplug to Grindor, and crawled onto the giant's neck. " **I've told you before, and I can't believe you're making me waste my time by telling you this again.** " Scalpel reached into the hole in Grindor's neck, and started to piece together the neck cables. " **Megatron ordered me to never fix your wings. Why would my first action -of my own accord after his death- be to go against our Lord's last?** "

 **"** Because you want to keep your life. **"**

 **"You wouldn't kill me. And even if you did, your version of murder would be merciful compared to what the DJD would do to me."**

 **"**... They aren't still active."

" **Soundwave says they are.** "

"How would he know?"

" **Soundwave hears all.** "

"Not this conversation, apparently."

" **Soundwave will know of it soon enough."**

Scapel finished patching the last cable in Grindor's neck. The mech onlined.

.

Attack. Dodge. Transform. Drive. Shoot back. Stall. Communications online. Air support. Space Case escorted Steel away from the battle while Starscream fought.

.

The battle scene lay miles behind them. The two had traversed mountains, forests, and rivers. Starscream, and their former teammates were out of sight, and almost out of their minds. Steel wished that they would be. She had to remind herself not to worry. Starscream had built a wall in their link. She heard nothing from him. Neither of them did. For strategical reasons, the Lord had offlined his COM system. Lord Starscream did not want to give Soundwave's side access to his subordinates' COM links via a hack.

.

Time passed. Steel felt guilt. She shouldn't have put herself in danger. She shouldn't have forced Starscream to make a play. She shouldn't have made a deal with Space Case. Space Case shouldn't have told Starscream about the deal. But, he did, and Starscream complied. The Lord was ecstatic. He wanted his troops to be repaired. He wanted Space Case to re-enter space, and he wanted his sparkmate to fly. Neither happened, but that wasn't plausible at the time. Starscream was so sure of **himself** , and **his** plan, that he didn't question his subordinates. He didn't question Steel's ability to disable threats, or or her ability to make them. He didn't question whether or not Space Case would be able to ground Grindor, or steal away Scalpel if things went south. Starscream never questioned. Steel felt almost as if she had betrayed him. She should have told him to question her. Why did he put so much trust in her? But, now it was too late. He was unreachable. She hoped that he was alright.

.

Space Case flew. Steel drove on the country roads. They both talked through a link.

"So," Space Case asked her, "Did you get fixed?"

Steel yelled at him, "Do you think I got my wings fixed by him? If I did, do you really think I would be driving in this primordial form?"

"I don't know, maybe. You could be driving for suspense purposes, you know, so you could keep the element of surprise, and I would be all like 'WOW' when you decided to give your grand reveal... or something."

"Space Case," Steel said, "I hate you."

"Why, because I can fly? Hello, you don't see me going into space. You don't think I lost a part of my identity too?"

"Arggh, Space Case, I know you were hurt too. We both were. B-but, this was our chance, my chance! I was so close! Now, I might never get my fragged wings fixed."

"Well," Space Case comforted her. He told her, "don't get too down about it."

"Down about it? Like driving, on the ground?"

"Hey, slip of the glossa!" He said. "Out of my control."

"Like mine apparently." _I couldn't manipulate Scalpel in the least. It was out of my control. Starscream should have questioned, should have doubted, I'm such an idiot!_

"With the Doctor thing?" Space Case asked her. "So what? You win some, you lose some. You just need to look on the bright side, here."

"What bright side?"

"At least you didn't let that creep into your mainframe. Could you imagine the kind of terror he could of inflicted upon you for threatening him?"

"He wouldn't have dared."

"Yeah, right. Mr. Microscope wouldn't have taken out his pent up sexual frustrations against a sexy breeding femme like yourself?"

"I don't think **against** is the right word there."

"You don't think that dominating is one of his things? It totally is."

"Aren't you getting off track?"

"Mr. Microscope might have. I mean, he's just so tiny, and he causes so much pain to his victims. You don't think he's overcompensating with his ruthlessness? He probably hasn't interfaced with another since Cybertron's Golden Age. Him not fixing you is a good thing. He could've easily made you go un-conscious. I know that I wouldn't want to have his tiny little servos routing around my inner-wirings, especially if I was a femme."

"Space Case."

"Yes?"

"You talk too much."

"Nope. I refuse to believe that. You love listening to the sexiness of my voice. Listen to it. Don't I sound like a cool college graduate, whom you just want to frag until his voice burns directly into your processor? Or onto your hard-drive? Why else would you let me go on like this. Yes, I do enjoy talking. But, I sound so gooooood. If you didn't find my voice so attractive, you would've interrupted me by now. Don't you love the way my words glide into your audio receptors? I think Scalpel does. That's part of the reason I didn't want to let the Doctor into my cockpit. He would've taken some sadistic pleasure in screwing with my COM system. So, in summation, it's a good thing we failed. That's the bright side right there. Scalpel didn't penetrate either of us."

"What the frack is wrong with you?"

"What?"

"Don't you think that you're getting just a bit too personal about this?"

"What? Me? No."

"Really?"

"Well, personal as in me being glad that Scalpel didn't frag you, or personal as in me talking about fragging and stuff? Because the latter thing makes you seem waaaaay too much like a puritan Autobot... Silence? You pissed? Or did you just assume that I'd keep on talking and you didn't want to interrupt? Because I can keep my answers short too. I just thought that if I exhausted all of the options and hypotheticals on the worrying-thingies, then you wouldn't have to voice that stuff to me. It's kind of like mind-reading but, not really, you know? Also, you're like, one of the only Decepticons who lets me talk. I guess that's why everyone loved it when I went off into space on long exploratory missions. Because then, they wouldn't have to hear me talk. You don't interrupt me though, which is nice. Even when I talk about stuff like me being glad that Scalpel didn't knock you unconscious and then interface with you, under the guise that he was fixing your wings. Sometimes I just like to voice my worries."

"I have Starscream for all of the worrying stuff," Steel said, "I don't need you on that too."

"Short response? Does your Lord do that? I can do that too. Well, statistically speaking, you and Screamy won't last forever. So, it might be a good thing for me to start imitating what you like about him before that happens."

"And what, you're just going to come in and steal me away from him?"

"Pffft. You act like that isn't a possibility."

"It isn't Space Case. Lord Starscream and I are going to -how did you put it- last forever."

"Nope. Isn't going to happen."

"You're being childish."

"No Steel, I'm being strategical. Just think about it, what does Screamy have that I do not?"

"He's smarter, faster, more cunning-"

"I'm more attractive!"

"Childish."

"My spike is longer."

"Prove it." _Wait? What the frack did I say that for? Frag my life._

"I will."

"Please don't," Steel pleaded, "I was just kidding."

"Yeah, but I'm -how did you put it- childish. Children kid."

"That's like saying **younglings young**."

"See, that's where Earthican english wins."

"Says the Decepticon fleshling scholar."

"Shadow was the real human-expert. But, you know how that ended. Compared to Megatron -no matter how much human I learned- I just couldn't impress her."

"Off track much?"

"Trains use tracks. I fly."

"Space Case!"

"Slip of the glossa. I swear."

"Agggh. Seriously Space Case. What is wrong with you?"

"I'm childish. Also bitter. Ooh! I'm also treasonous."

"And that's a good thing?"

"Well, you know how I speak Earthican, right? The Autobots do too."

"Those 'Bots and their puritan ways can't be reasoned with."

"Yeah, but they only have one flier, and they could use some D'Con intel."

"You're talking treason here."

"I'm also talking 'bout getting fixed. Steel, I don't know if you realize this, but the 'Bots have a medic. By my calculations of how many times they should have died, and the amount of damage they've taken with the whole being outnumbered and outgunned thing, I would say that their medic is pretty fragging good."

"And you think he would seriously fix you?"

"If I turned 'Bot, yeah."

"But, what about the DJD?"

"They're just a rumor. They have to be dead. The Warriors Elite are pretty much gone. And, even if the DJD did survive, why would they spend the energon needed to travel all the way from the edges of the galaxy over to this tiny scrap heap of a planet?"

"Maybe they would, because this is where Megatron died."

"Was killed. There's a difference."

"And that is?"

"The difference between a torturous death and a comparatively merciful one."

"They wouldn't."

"Starscream had all of us swear to the whole silence and secrecy thing. But, who knows what Soundwave and his men know? I hear that Soundwave's got ears everywhere. His human intel might be the beginning of our end."

Steel told him with fear in her voice, "They wouldn't dare."

"Soundwave's anointed himself Lord. You really think he wouldn't use fear as a method of unifying his troops?"

"I don't think he would go so far as to tell the DJD about us."

"You?"

"It was a team effort."

"Hey, I'm not judging here. But, if I were to judge -and I'm not- I'd say that there's a difference between killing Megatron, and killing Shadow and their offspring."

"You aren't judging?"

"Revenge is sweet, and I have to imagine that your valve is even sweeter."

"Space Case, stop it."

"Fine, but as soon as Lord Screamy meets up with us at the way-point, I am totally fighting against him for you."

"Stop it. Seriously. Lord Starscream's risking his aft for us right now."

"Why? Because he's taking on S-Wave's Attack helicopter all alone?"

"Precisely."

"They wouldn't hurt him. The coward's probably selling us out along with the rest of his division, right now."

"He wouldn't."

"You really trust him that much?

"I trust that he wouldn't play his hand so early in the game."

"Yeah! Earth terms! See, you and me, we could really fit in with the 'Bots."

"Maybe, but I doubt it."

"Knight still hates you?"

"She and Optimus."

Space Case joked, "Optimus... The most puritanical of the Autobot puritans. Earth-history, man. Useful. But, after our history? Knight and the Prime should be grateful."

"Right?" Steel asked him in agreement, "Sentinel and Megatron would have just come back to bite them later on."

"The medic might see it that way."

"Ratchet, right?" Steel asked him.

Space Case said, "I hear he's the best there is with repairs."

Steel sighed, "Listen Space Case," she told him, "I'm not encouraging you or anything, but, if you did want to scope things out with the Autobots, I'd be able to distract Starscream from your actions for at least a little while."

.

The way point was silent. Steel stood atop the cliff, and overlooked the valley below. She waited. Stars twinkled. Her star arrived. He landed, transformed, and took her servo in his.

"What's wrong?" Starscream asked her.

Steel couldn't tell what specific wrong Starscream was talking about: her attitude, or her missing teammate.

Steel responded, "Nothing."

Starscream let her servo go, and turned away from her. "You know," he said, "I can tell when you're lying to me."

Steel raised an optic ridge and asked him, "Even without our link?"

Starscream turned around to face her and said, "I disconnected for a reason." Starscream walked up to Steel and held her head in his servos. He stared into her red optics with his own. "I couldn't focus on the situation, if all I could think about was you."

Their link was still closed.

Steel melted into his grasp. Starscream smirked. He leaned in, having his mouth hover in front of hers, and he waited. A thin line of air separated their lips. Her spark beat faster. His internal temperature rose.

But, now was not the time. Now was not the time for anything. Even though he could have forced her, they did not make out. He lowered his arms. They snaked around her lower back, and he rubbed up against her. She wrapped her arms below his shoulders, between his back and his wings. He embraced her in a hug. She rested her head against his neck. They stayed like that for awhile. Neither one talked. Neither one re-opened the link.

Starscream gently whispered into Steel's audio processor, "Steel, where is Space Case?"

Her words were soft. She asked him, "Why do you think I don't trust you?"

"I don't."

Her spark beat faster. "Then, why did you close the link?"

"Don't make me lie to you."

She held onto him tighter, "I don't care what you did."

He whispered back, "You should."

"Why?"

"Because I closed the link."

 _"You didn't want me to see something, but what?"_

Steel tugged on Starscream's end of their link.

She told him in a heavenly voice, "It couldn't have been that bad."

Starscream said to her in their link, " _But it wasn't good._ "

Steel (: indicates communication through their link): " _So?"_

Starscream: " _Don't go looking, I don't want you to see."_

"Fine," Steel said in a forgiving tone, "That's fine."

Starscream said back to her, "It shouldn't be."

"Why?"

"Because you deserve better."

Steel realized what his game was. Starscream only re-opened their link to get the answer to his question. He just listened to her previous conversation with the comedic flier. Starscream knew exactly where Space Case was.

Steel: " _You went looking in our link."_

Starscream: " _Space Case would take better care of you than I would."_

Steel: _"You'd regret your decision."_ "You'd probably kill him out of spite."

"I would." Starscream: " _But, that doesn't mean that you don't deserve better."_

"Then," she told him, "be better."

"That'll be hard," he told her, "I've put myself into a turf war against Soundwave."

"I don't have to look into the link to know that's not true."

Starscream smirked, "But, it could be."

"But, it's not."

Starscream bit into Steel's neck cables. He hit a sweet spot. Steel let out a moan. Starscream bit deeper, and then licked the energon from her metal skin.

"The truth doesn't matter much now," Starscream said to her. He drew her closer into him, and he held her in his arms. "The war's about to turn into a slaughter," he told her. She could feel the gravity of his words through their link. "If we're going to get through this, together, then I'll need to keep you by my side." He bit down on her neck once again, and she let out another moan, this one more noticeable, vibrating through their link. "Always," Starscream purred into her audio receptor. Starscream: " _Always_."


	8. Love's a Sad Song

The highway was clear. The sunset played behind a pop song. Optimus and Knight raced, dancing together, as they swerved in and out of lanes on the highway.

Knight -the silver sports car- drove ahead. Optimus sped up. Knight cut in front of him. Optimus swerved left. Knight glided into the left lane, cutting him off, yet again. Optimus shifted right. Knight mirrored his action.

Optimus cut his speed in half, and fell back, far behind her. Knight spun 360 degrees -now driving in reverse- she faced him. Knight dropped her speed and closed the gap between them. Mere feet lay between their bumpers.

Optimus drove forward. Knight drove in reverse. Neither said a word. Neither needed to say anything. They kept their sights on one another. They kept their sights on the road. The sky melted into a golden grace around them. Their engines hummed in each other's presence. Their sparks sent warm, comfortable waves to wash over their frames.

A song controlled the air. Its rythems shifted currents, swerved between lanes, and breathed emotion.

Death Cab for Cutie - No Room In Frame

"I don't know where to begin

There's too many things that I can't remember  
As I disappeared like a trend  
In the hum of the 5 in the early morning

And now I'm taking my time  
Up through Coalinga through the valley  
This highway lived in my mind  
It takes me back to the place that made me

Was I in your way  
When the cameras turned to face you?  
No room in frame  
For two

You cannot outrun a ghost  
Speeding south bound lanes with abandon  
It catches you on the coast  
Or on the cliffs of the Palisades you killed the engine

And then it hovers above  
Reeling bodies failing to discover  
The thing they once knew as love  
Raising their voices to convince one another

Was I in your way  
When the cameras turned to face you?  
No room in frame  
For two

How can I stay  
In the sun  
When the rain flows  
All through my veins  
It's true

And I guess it's not a failure we could help  
And we'll both go on to get lonely with someone else  
With someone else

Was I in your way  
When the cameras turned to face you?  
No room in frame  
For two

How can I stay  
In the sun  
When the rain flows  
All through my veins  
It's true

And I guess it's not a failure we could help  
And we'll both go on to get lonely with someone else."

.

 _Someone else_.

.

She was alone, or at least she wished she was. Steel sat on the ground, below a bridge. Its high cement supports rose many lengths above her, and cast her in its long, slender shadow. Steel didn't complain. The darkness gave her some comfort, and the cement ceiling protected her from the rain. On both sides of her, she could see sheets of rain crash against the dirt, and bounce back up, bringing mud to bubble to the surface. She leaned her back against one of the supports as she sat, with her legs lying on the semi-dry dark dirt below her. In front of her, in the middle of the chasm, was a river. Mud cascaded down both sides of the dirt walls not shielded by the bridge, and the mud slid down into the river. Steel took note of the rhythms, she counted the nano-seconds between each sheet fall, and mentally fell into the river with every minuscule mudslide. She let it take her downstream, floating away from her troubles. But, reality had a funny way of keeping her a float.

Space Case splashed down into the river.

"Good song, right?" He asked her. The flier had been dancing in the rainstorm, flying in and out of the sound-waves produced by the song. He had lost himself in music. Then, he found himself again. He had learned that from the Autobots. _Everyone needs a little break from reality, so why not get lost in a song?_ It was a tactic to de-stress.

Space Case resounded, "Right?"

"Yeah," Steel said to him, even though her mind was really somewhere else, "it was good."

"New music is the best," Space Case said, "And the music in 2015 isn't bad so far."

Steel stared up at the bridge. "Yeah," she said again without really thinking about what Space Case had said.

"It's one of the things I can really agree with the Autobots on."

"Good."

"No, I wouldn't really say that it's good. We agree on very little." Space Case sighed. He walked next to the support Steel sat against, and he slumped against the column, paint was scratched off of his arm as he stood, leaning against it. "I don't think I can do it," he said.

Steel nodded.

"It's just so much easier being a Decepticon."

Steel nodded again.

"But, on the other hand," Space Case literally gestured with his other hand, "becoming an Autobot could bring so much cool stuff. It would bring so much needed change."

Steel continued staring up at the bridge.

"The Doctor might even be able to fix my problem. Then, I could just leave all of this behind, and fly away. No one would be able to stop me. No one."

Steel nodded.

Space Case struggled to find the right words. "It would be so nice..." he trailed off.

"Then do that," Steel told him.

"But," he gave an excuse, "it would be so difficult to make that change." Space Case sighed. Steel could feel just how defeated he was. He told her, "It's just easier to stay a Decepticon. You know?"

Steel nodded.

"Staying with the status quo might not bring anything new or exciting, but I've already spent so much time being a Decepticon, that I think it would probably be stupid to change. You know?"

 _Yeah, I know._ Steel nodded. _You're basically describing the relationship between me and Starscream._

 _"_ But, _"_ Space Case winced, "I just want something to change, you know? I think the status quo is killing me. But, change seems like it's impossible. Like it's something straight out of a dream."

"Nothing is impossible," Steel told him, "Make your dreams come true."

Space Case smiled. "The scout's pet told me that once," he said. Space Case laughed, "That seems like an eternity ago, doesn't it?"

"I remember you telling me that a few days ago."

"A few days, an eternity, when the status quo's killing you, what difference does time make?"

"None."

Space Case laughed. "Exactly he said, "none."

Steel continued to stare up at the bridge. The rain poured down around them. Mud slid into the stream bed. The river slowly rose.

"Like a song," Space Case gestured to the patter of the rain outside of their cover, he asked her "Isn't it?"

Steel nodded.

Space Case never stopped smiling. "You know, Steel," he said, "I know where we can listen to a better one."

Steel nodded.

"It'll be live."

Steel looked over to the rain and said, "The rain is live."

"Yeah," Space Case said, "But a concert is way more lively. Honestly, they're great. The Autobots swear by them. One would be sure to pick up your mood."

"I can stick to the radio."

"Yeah, but a concert would be so much more fun. Don't you want to come with me and check out something exciting-ish?"

"It sounds fun," Steel said, "but I have to wait here for Starscream."

Space Case sighed. "Sure," he said with a disappointed tone, "Another time then." Space Case lifted himself from his leaning position against the pillar, and he took a step towards the river. He patted Steel's shoulder as he passed by her and he told her, "Thanks for the chat," before he took a few more steps, and prepared to take flight. But then, he remembered something. He stopped, and he turned back to face Steel. He looked into her optics and he told her, "Don't become his object. You're you. Don't think of yourself as anything different." And with that, he turned away, jumped, transformed, and took flight, soaring into the storm clouds above.

Steel thought on Space Case's final statement. She relaxed against the pillar, stared up at the bridge, and just thought. His statement and tone confused her. Space Case finished his sentence with a smile. An actual smile. How could he do that? Did he miss the gravity of his words, of his statement? How could she ever take his advice? She wondered how she could do anything but think of herself differently.

The truth was, she was an object, his object. Starscream's object. She went where he wanted her to go, when he wanted her to be there. She slowed him down. And now, she was shifting from a play-object, to a carrier-object. Later, she would be a care-taker-object. That's all she was. That's all she would ever be. She would just shift from one object to another. That's what she knew. She could feel it in her spark. She knew that's all she would ever be. She had accepted it.

Steel felt the outermost layer of her metal legs sink into the dirt around her. Slowly, she sank, mere inches, but enough to feel. She received internal alerts: _Foreign substance observed below you. Move._ "It's dirt," she told her system, "Foreign, but not harmful." In all of her years of living on Earth, she never thought to rewrite her coding to accept Earth-objects as domestic. She didn't want to. They were foreign. Cybertron was her home. Earth would never be. She would not accept that. Another internal alert sprung up: _Rain causes rust. Do not go into stasis. Rust is imminent within the next 100 solar cycles on this foreign world, if you do not move._ She got the point. Her programming wanted her to move. Normally, all of these alerts would be set on silent. But, to Steel's dismay, her programming rewrote itself recently. Now, all insignificant alerts were given some voice.

Steel offlined her optics. She let the pitter-patter of rain take her away. But, her programming had to ruin that too. Her imagination protocols were activated. The pitter-patter of rain shifted into the pitter-patter of tiny pedes. The background rewrote itself. The darkness was filled with light. Metal paved the streets. Her senses changed their outputs. She sat on a metal bench. The scenery came straight from her memory-banks. She was back at the royal palace. Steel tried to shut down her imagination-programming. She knew what would happen next. But, no matter how hard she tried, the scene wouldn't change. She sat on a metal bench that overlooked the royal garden. This was Shadow's favorite spot. The bench was on a patio that overlooked a long, rectangular garden. The garden was filled with dozens of species of metal fauna. The flowers grew in intricate designs, and in an abundant range of colors. The ground was tiled around the garden. The same tile lay beneath her pedes, and made the smooth floor of the patio. Engraved corridors made up the perimeter of this place. Beyond the high walls of the corridors, Steel looked up at architecture of the castle-like palace. Its towers were distinguished and high, funny enough, the blueprints of the castle arose in her mind, and compared itself to the Disney Castle. Out, far from the architecture of the palace, Steel could make out the tall buildings of Cybertron. They were clean. It was almost as if they had never witnessed a day of the war. The capital city was lit. It was day, and she could see the lights of the city.

The pitter-patter of pedes returned. Steel looked back to the tiled patio. A tiny youngling ran over to her. He was smiling, giggling, happy. He had Starscream's star-like figure, her steel coloring, her bright red optics, and Starscream's ambition. He ran over to her as if he had been running all of his life. He didn't hesitate. He had so much confidence that Steel concluded the tiny mech had never stumbled in his short lifetime. He jumped into her arms and snuggled into her chest. She looked down at his innocent face, and she smiled. Steel wrapped her arms around him, and pulled him in close. She felt his spark in her own.

Steel heard steps behind her. She tightened her grip around her son. The figure stepped out of the dark corridor, and walked over to the bench. She was painted black.

"It's nice, isn't it?" Shadow asked her.

"Yes," Steel said, "Very."

"The flowers especially." Shadow gestured to them as their petals blew in the wind. "I love the patterns they create, and the colors they parade."

Steel felt a chill glide down her backstrut. She looked out onto the bright display in front of her. "They were so beautiful," Shadow said. Steel pulled her son in tighter.

"Do you know which one I like best?" Shadow walked across the patio, and sat on its edge. She picked a flower with long, elegant, sapphire-blue petals. Shadow held it close to her chest. "Knight and I planted these here," she said. She then stood up and stared out at the garden. "I used to come here when I was a youngling," she said, "I'd come here and write philosophy." With a smile on her face, Shadow offlined her optics and shook her head. "It was all so dumb." She onlined her optics and looked back at Steel. "But, Megatron enjoyed it." Shadow walked over to a large tree on the perimeter of the garden, and put one of her servos on top of its bark. She rested her palm there. "I really do love that mech," Shadow said. "I had the largest crush on him for the longest time." Shadow looked up the tree, and stared at the pearl-white buds that grew on its branches. "Much like this tree." Shadow said as she looked back to Steel. "I used to come here with my creator when I was young. We would just sit underneath this tree and look up at the stars. I wanted to do that with young of my own. Just sit here, with them, maybe read them some stories."

Steel gulped.

Shadow walked back to Steel and sat beside her on the bench. Shadow smiled at her friend. "You're about to embark on something wonderful," Shadow told her. "Cherish it."

Steel's internal alerts re-emerged. The scene created by her imagination-programming faded behind the flashing red warning: _Move. Think of the sparkling._

Steel onlined her optics. Reality returned to her. She lay against the Bridge's pillar, in the dirt. She slowly rose, and shook loose dirt particles from her armor. She patted the backings of her legs, and rubbed her servos together to get rid of the excess mud. After a few minutes of this, she was clean. _Earth. What a dumb name for a planet. Everything's covered in it._ The rain was lightening up. But, her alerts didn't go away, and she knew why. It was the primary reason for everything. Her carrier-programing was kicking in, and it didn't think Steel was taking its warnings seriously. To its credit, it was mostly right. Steel still hadn't completed its first request: notify Starscream.

She had to tell Starscream. She knew she had to. The insignificant alerts wouldn't leave her alone until she did. She knew the process, and what she had to do. She was with Shadow for every stage of femme's process. Steel was basically a HOW TO guide on the subject. She knew everything one would need to. She knew that Sparklings feed off the energy of their creator's spark. In this case, Starscream's spark. He would have to keep his link active in order to nurture the sparkling, always, even when her lord was in the middle of important meetings, or in the middle of other stuff he wouldn't want her or the sparkling to know about. He would have to sacrifice his mobility for the well-being of his heir. Starscream wouldn't be able to go fly off to one place and command his troops, and then fly off to another and have a conversation with Soundwave, and then fly off to a third to spend time with his trine, and then finally fly back to her and the sparkling.

Steel knew that she had to tell him, but she didn't know how. Steel could feel the sparkling in her chamber, growing just a little bit stronger each and every day. She could feel it tugging on her consciousness through their link. She could feel the coding in its spark, and she knew the base characteristics that influenced what it would grow into: mech, flier, red optics, smart. Steel felt like she knew it all. But, she also knew that Starscream knew nothing of it. He had closed their link a while ago. He had a reason. He was very busy. The Decepticons were preparing for one of the most influential battles in this war. He couldn't allow himself to get distracted. He had to co-ordinate with Soundwave, and every other Decepticon in their Earth-based army. He had too much to worry about. He had too much riding on his actions. Their link was closed, and Steel had no desire to re-open their link. She was too afraid about how he would react. Steel already felt like she was holding Starscream back, slowing his movements, and taking up the time that he could have been using to give commands to the rest of his troops. She knew she was weighing him down. She was sure that she was a burden to him, being someone he would have to watch out for and protect. So, Steel was sure that adding a sparkling to her situation would just make everything worse.

Steel couldn't force her mind off of the subject. Her programming wouldn't permit her. She thought of all the logistics that went into producing a healthy sparkling, and how the sparkling would tax her and Starscream's already messed up relationship.

 _In addition to keeping their link open, he would also have to move around less, like Shadow and Megatron. How did they do it?_ Steel thought back to Megatron and Shadow's relationship.

...

...

...

Memorycore: Steelwing

Accessing 2009 A24 Data Entry...

Nambia Africa, the Decepticon Military Base. Before Steelwing became Steel.

"How can you stand always being in one place?"

Shadow kept her gaze down. Steelwing stomped her pedes and sighed. Yet again, Shadow avoided Steelwing's question. They both stood in a large room, the living room to be more exact. It was one of the more spacious rooms of the base, excluding its metal furniture.

"Shadow?" Steelwing called, annoyance growing in her tone, "Are you even listening?"

"Yes," Shadow said back. Her optics didn't move up and over to Steelwing to show that she acknowledged her friend. Shadow's gaze stayed down, focused on her youngling. She cradled him in her arms, and and held him to her chest. He rested there. He was so round, and fragile-looking. Shadow couldn't lift her gaze from him. "Yes," Shadow repeated, singing the words to her son, "I am listening."

"How can you stand always being in one place?" Steelwing asked. "How can you stand always acting like a rubber band between Megatron and your young?"

Steelwing waited for a reaction, but didn't get any. Shadow continued to rock her son back and forth in her arms as she hummed a cybertronian hymn to him.

"Come on!" Steelwing shouted. "How can you stand being his slave?"

Shadow laughed. The youngling felt the joy in his carrier's spark and giggled along with her. "Steelwing," Shadow said with a smile in her voice, "Funny thing is, I was brought up to be essentially that -a slave- to be sold off and bonded to whomever would make the best addition to my family's reputation." She smiled and looked over to her friend. "I'm happy with Megatron," she said. Her face was so bright. Steelwing hadn't seen as much light cast on anyone else's face. "I love him," Shadow said. Her son reached his tiny pudgy digits up towards his carriers head. She smiled down at him, and continued to rock him in her arms. "and I love our sparkling," she said, "I could never have asked for a better life."

Steelwing rolled her optics and huffed. "Right..."

"No really," Shadow said, with a smile still in her tone, "It's true." She joked, "You'd understand if you made a move on Starscream."

"What?" Steelwing asked wide-eyed. "The Commander? Why would I want him?"

"Oh come one Steelwing, you've had a crush on him since high school."

"Pffft, no." Steelwing blushed. "He's not for me. He's too..."

"Too screechy?" Shadow asked.

"No, not that. He's definitely too something though."

"Well, maybe that something could be good for you. You might find a relationship to be nice. Visage and Knight have found joy in theirs, nothing compared to mine, though. I mean, how can anyone compete with Megatron's compassion? Even though Optimus and Tarn aren't as good as my Lord, Visage and Knight still experience joy with their mechs. Like them and their mechs, you know? You wouldn't know for sure unless you tried."

"And what if it fails? What if he doesn't even like me? What if he hates me?"

"Then that something he has that you can't put your digit on is idiocy, Steelwing. You're a perfectly fine triple-changer."

"But, I wasn't born one like you were."

"So? You became one through an experiment, that takes courage, and shows ambition. If anything, that's better."

"But, for him?"

Megatron entered the doorway and strode into the room. He looked over to his sparkmate and smirked. Shadow returned his smile. He walked up to Shadow, leaned in, and kissed her on the cheek. He whispered into her audio receptor, "may I?"

"Of course my Lord," she lovingly responded.

Megatron took his son into his arms and cradled him. "Little one," Megatron said to his son gently, "Did you miss me?" The tiny mech nuzzled into his creator's chest and let out a tiny purr of approval. "I wish I could have been here instead," Megatron said to Shadow. He looked up to his sparkmate and Steelwing, and Megatron said with a frown in his tone, "the meeting was far too boring for my tastes."

Shadow nodded, "I could tell through our link," she said.

Steelwing stared at the couple in bewilderment.

Shadow asked her friend, "What's wrong Steelwing?"

The flier responded, "It's nothing," Steelwing said, "I just think it's odd that you both keep your link open, even when there's classified information on the line."

Megatron explained, "I trust Shadow with my love, my trust, and my life. It would be odd if I kept petty information from my sparkmate, especially when I'd much prefer to keep our link open, and feel her with me."

Steelwing contemplated Megatron's sentence. Truth be told, the flier was envious. The femme's thoughts returned to Starscream, and she wondered if she could possibly have something similar to-

Megatron snapped Steelwing from her thoughts, "Don't fall for him," Megatron said to her. "You could do oh so much better than that pitiful seeker."

Steelwing's spark stopped. "What?" Her thoughts were scrambling to figure out how he could have known.

Shadow gave Steelwing a clue by tapping the armor that covered her spark chamber.

 _The_ link, Steelwing thought to herself, _Of course!_

Megatron said to her, "I heard every word." He turned to Shadow and asked her through their link, **"My Lady, should I? Or do you want to?"**

 **"Together,"** she returned through their link.

Megatron said to Steelwing, "You'd want someone vastly different than the seeker."

"Soundwave's different," Shadow said, "He's a brilliant tactician, and much better at strategizing than Starscream is. Better still, he's much more open. He has much better communication skills."

Megatron thought and added, "Though, if intelligence is important, then I would recommend Shockwave."

"No," Shadow said, "Shockwave's not with us right now, not in this base anyway. Besides, Shockwave doesn't have enough of a personality. Do you know who does, though? Space Case. You and he get along, don't you Steelwing? You and he have fun?"

"Shouldn't she shoot for a higher rank?" Megatron asked Shadow. "I think Steelwing deserves much more from a mech than a fun time."

"What about Skywarp, then? He's loyal, he's lovable, and unlike Starscream, she wouldn't have to worry about any ulterior motives."

"Or any motives at all," Megatron said, "Skywarp's a dimwit." He shook his head. "No, even though Skywarp is a loyal subject, I think that seekers should be stricken from the list."

Megatron and Shadow's display confused Steelwing. "It's not that I'm not grateful or anything, but," she asked them, "why are you helping me?"

Shadow looked at Steelwing and said, "Well, isn't it obvious? You're like a part of our family. It's more than just a Decepticon-thing."

Megatron nodded. He looked down at his son and asked him in a happy-tone, "Little one, don't you think that auntie-Steelwing is a part of the family?"

The youngling gave a happy giggle.

Shadow said, "Well, of course she is," to the youngling. "Steelwing was one of the cybertronians that helped Megatron and I get together."

Megatron added on (after he talked to Shadow over the link and he sighed), "I'll admit that Knight and Orion also helped, but they betrayed us and became filthy Autobot-scum."

Megatron couldn't emphasize Knight and Orion's betrayal enough. Hejust couldn't express how much it pained him to be betrayed by Orion and Knight, but Shadow knew. Megatron wanted to just shake it off, but he could feel his son asking about it through their link. Their son was developed enough to understand his creator's feeling of pain, but he could not understand what it had to do with the one named 'Orion'.

Megatron held his son closer to his chest and told him, "Orion was a brother to me."

Shadow said, "I still hold out hope for Knight... We talk."

Megatron said to Shadow, "You both talk about meaningless things like possible peace and truces... Me? I can never forgive Optimus for his betrayal. When family hurts you, you don't heal..." Megatron shrugged and said, "I trusted him."

"As I trusted Knight?"

"It's different, My Lady, trust me."

"I do. But," she playfully added, "That doesn't mean peace that is meaningless."

Megatron smirked, "I suppose you'd think the same of diplomacy?"

Shadow asked him, "You've known me for how many solar cycles?" Shadow put her servos on her hips. "Why wouldn't I find meaning in diplomacy?"

"Because you have nothing to gain my dear."

"I do!" she screamed. "The humans offer TV, and philosophy, and I know that under the right circumstances, the Autobots could become Decepticons."

Megatron said with a playful smirk, "The Autobots wouldn't be worthy. They would try to create another corrupt council." Megatron looked back down to his son and asked him in a playful tone, "Little one, what do you think?"

The son smiled, excited to be asked a question, and replied in a cute rudimentary cybertronian language to the group, " **I think that Daddy is good, and that toys are good, and that the Autobots would be good toys if they played with me, but that they would be bad if they took Mommy away because then me and Daddy would be sad and lonely.** "

"Primus," Steelwing muttered, "Your sparkling is smart."

Shadow stroked her son's head, looked over to Megatron and said, "He gets it from my favorite genius." She was referring to Megatron.

Megatron said, "Despite your brilliance, My Lady, you're wrong." He held their sparkling in one arm, and used his free hand to take Shadow's servo in his own. He told her, "Our little one received the best of the both of us. All of it from our link."

Steelwing noted their link. The three of them shared in it. Megatron looked lovingly into Shadow's optics, she stood in front of him, their sparkling cuddled between the both of them. Steelwing made an observation about how happy they looked together. They were perfect together. They were the perfect family.

...

...

...

Steel exited the memory and shook her head. They were dead. "It wasn't my fault," she said, "It was his."

Steel moved on.

.

Starscream flew down, transformed, and landed beneath the bridge. He slid down the hill of mud.

"Slagged Earth," he cursed.

The commander shook his head and muttered something beneath his breath. He looked up, and saw Steel standing cross-armed, leaning against one of the bridge's support pillars.

Starscream proceeded to walk towards her, shaking mud from his pedes at the end of his every step. She watched his body language, but Steel didn't care much for the audio. His gestures were over-exaggerated. Whatever he was saying, she concluded that he was expressing far more than he should have. Steel wasn't sure if he was trying to illicit a specific response from her, or if he was trying to add emphasis to his own words. She couldn't tell. She was just sure that she wouldn't allow herself to be manipulated. No matter how much his arms moved, or what tones his voice was shifting between, her mind would not sway.

Yes, she understood what he was saying. Starscream was talking about his meeting with Soundwave. The commander was describing the tiny, worthless, insignificant parts. He left out most -if not all- of the important or 'gripping' facts. But, she got the gist. The upcoming joint-mission would succeed. The partnership would last. The Decepticons would destroy the Autobots without a problem. Her teammates -Soundwave's Decepticons- were strategically placed around the world to best incite human hatred against the Autobots. The public would turn against them.

But, Steel didn't care about any of the information. She leaned against the pillar with her arms crossed, pinned to her chest, and she stared at Starscream, watching him, watching his movements, watching his mouth open and close, and she wondered how much of his display was genuine, and how much of it was fake. It wasn't easy for her to ignore her programming's protocols, especially with Starscream standing -this close- right in front of her. But, in this moment, she needed to. She needed to know if she was being lied to. She needed to know if he was trying to manipulate her. She needed to know.

She felt as if she needed to know.

As more time passed, and more information leaked from his voice box, Steel wondered what the point of it all was. She wondered why he was talking so much. She wondered what his goal was. She labeled Starscream as the manipulating strategist Megatron told her he was, and she desperately tried to figure out what he was planning. She knew all of his tricks, all of his tells, all of his hints, and all of his general motives, but she couldn't be sure, she just couldn't be certain anymore. She wasn't sure if the mech she was staring at was talking because he wanted to manipulate her through his words, or if he wanted to talk to her because he wanted to talk to her. She couldn't tell if his over-exaggerated movements and emotional retellings of his day's events were to emphasize a specific point that would persuade her in a specific way, or if his over-the-top actions were meant to balance the equation. She stood there, leaning against a pillar, with a blank expression, and her arms pinned to her chest. He stood across from her, pacing, moving, gesturing, varying his facial expressions and the tones in his voice. Was he telling her information meant to manipulate her, or was he talking to her, trying to cheer her up? Did he continue to talk because he was trying to manipulate her and he wanted to pull out every stop, or did he keep talking because he was afraid of the silence between them, the silence that would consume them once he stopped? Was he filling the silence with sentiment, or was he filling her processor with lies? Steel could not tell.

Steel couldn't tell if he cared anymore. She didn't even know if she wanted him to. If he cared, then he was acting genuinely, and was doing what he normally did to cheer her up. He saw her non-emotive state and he was trying to give her some emotion via his excess emotiveness. If he didn't care, and was faking his sentiments, didn't that mean that he cared enough to fake that he cared? Steel could not tell. She didn't want to.

No matter what she saw, or thought she didn't see, the facts were still there. Starscream was growing more distant. He was. That was undeniable. Their link was still closed. He claimed it was for her protection. He claimed that a lot of things were for her protection. He was growing more distant. He claimed that he distanced himself from her because he cared far too much for her. He claimed that he was letting her see sides of him that even his trinemates didn't know about. He claimed that –because he loved her- he feared that she would betray him, and that he would end up getting hurt. He wanted too much. He knew that. He once said that he was prepared to throw away his title and his power and everything else that came with being the second command of the Decepticons, just so that he could focus more on her, and on them. She wondered if it was a lie. If it was, it was a brilliant lie. But, as Megatron had once told her, "Starscream is a brilliant liar". And, as long as their link was closed, she could never be sure if she was being lied to or not.

"I'm fine, how are you?" "goodbye," "good luck," "Yes," "No," "That's classified," "No, I'm being serious," "I love you," "I never want this moment to end," "I really want to, but..." "Trines are complicated." How many of his phrases were lies? Did the answer even matter if the fact that she had asked the question proved that she didn't trust him? As soon as the link would go back up, she would be able to fact check. Of course, it would be reciprocal. He would see her doubt. It didn't help Steel's psyche that Starscream took her words at truth's value. They were truth. To him, even her lies were truth. His faith in her made her feel guilty for her doubt in him.

So, she watched him smile, and she listened as he retold the story of his day, and the idiot things that Thundercracker did, and everything in between that she used to care about. But, at that moment, she didn't. All she could think about revolved around her constant alerts and the aching question, "would all of this be worth it?" "is he father material?" "are we even ready to raise a sparkling?" "If I told him, would I even have a choice?"

Steel hadn't nodded in a while. Starscream observed her vacant expression and he fidgeted more than usual. She was thinking, he knew she was. _But,_ he asked himself, _was she listening to me?_ Was he getting through to her? Starscream could not tell. He checked his internal clock (9:23). Starscream was hit by a barrage of messages. He quickly skimmed them before deleting each and every one of the hundred or so messages. Their stream was constant. If they weren't messages, then they were alerts. They annoyed him to no end. _Do this, talk to him, give them commands, ask them for an update, demand more respect, immortalize your name, keep the Decepticons alive._ The stream was constant. Starscream couldn't remember a time in recent history, that he didn't get the updates. It was all Soundwave's fault. Everything was Soundwave's fault. He was ruining everything. He kept the Lord on his pedes, constantly moving, constantly acting, constantly receiving notifications. It was his fault. It was his fault that Starscream spent so much time away from Steel. Even when he was with his partner, he still felt distant. Starscream had such a burden. He looked at his internal clock again (9:25). He deleted fifty new updates. They would have to move soon in order to get to the mission on-time. Starscream sighed internally. He hated how his notifications drowned out the rest of his thoughts. They consumed him. He looked back to Steel and smiled. At least she didn't have to deal with his constant updates. Their link was closed.

Steel didn't smile back at him. She wasn't paying attention. Not really. Her processor was somewhere else. Her sparkbeat increased. Fear. She was too afraid to listen. She was too afraid to act. She knew their link was closed. It was a recoiling blaster. She was glad that he couldn't sense her fear. She hated that she was too afraid to tell him. If their link was open, she wouldn't have to tell him, she wouldn't have to say a word. He would know. She sighed. The sparkling would die if it didn't get access to its creator's energy, so it could have another source to feed off of, another source of energy to make it strong.

"Steel?" Starscream asked her with a slight edge of annoyance in his tone, "I'm sorry, but... is something on your mind?"

Was something on her mind? Steel repeated the question in her mind, spitting the words in anger. _Is something on my mind? Why? Is that something an inconvenience to you? I'm sorry that I can't be this happy-go-lucky play-thing that doesn't have something on her mind! Yeah, I have something on my mind. I have a whole bunch of slag on my mind. Is something on my mind?_ Steel nodded. _You said it like it was a bad thing._

Starscream was very mindful of his internal clock. He put his servos on his hips and he shook his head. "Look," he said. "If we want to make it to the mission at all, we'll have to leave now. We can talk about it on the way."

But, they didn't talk about it on the way. Steel never mentioned it. Starscream never asked. He was too busy coordinating with his troops for one of the largest missions in the long line of mission he and Soundwave had planned. Everything depended on these missions. The Decepticons' survival depended on their successes. The Autobots' destruction wouldn't come about without them.

So, they transformed and went to the rendezvous point. Steel drove on the highway. Starscream flew above her, thousands of feet above her, far above the clouds, out of sight and out of her mind. They joined their comrades in Philadelphia. While traveling, neither said a single word.

.

The plan was simple. The Decepticons would turn public opinion against the Autobots. Philadelphia would be the first domino to fall. In the words of Soundwave's human informant Pierce, "Uh... You know. If you want to do major damage, you got to get major reputation. You have to pin destruction on them. I don't know... Maybe a human city gets fucked. Bada-bing, bada-boom, the media becomes anti-autobot. Pow."

Most of her teammates were present: Skywarp, Thundercracker, Skystalker, Fearswoop, Grindor, Scalpel, and Space Case. They stood around Starscream as their Lord gave a semi-motivational speech. Grindor -the large light-blue mech with helicopter blades drooping from his shoulders- glared at Starscream. Grindor was put on standby. He'd protect the Doctor while the battle went on. "The Doctor," as Starscream explained, "is quintessential to this operation."

 _This operation?_ Steel thought to herself, _this mission is child's play._ First,the Decepticons would down the city's power. In the chaos and confusion, the Cons would stop human radio signals from broadcasting, and they'd stop human cameras from recording. Next, Decepticons would attack the city and draw out the Autobots. The Autobots would arrive. The Decepticons would isolate a single Autobot and upload a virus into his COM link. The virus would travel throughout the Autobot's open-link channel and infect half of their soldiers. The virus would force the infected Autobots to temporarily turn on their teammates. The Decepticons would allow the human media to recuperate and regroup. The Decepticons would flee, never recorded or witnessed by any of the humans. The humans would record and report on the damage that the Autobots had done to their city. The media's perception would shift. They'd believe that the Autobots could not be controlled or trusted.

Grindor growled. It was obvious that he wanted to see battle. Steel sympathized with him. But, his job was important. If any Decepticon became injured during the battle, Grindor would have to transport Scalpel to that mech, and the Doctor would have to do his job. If a single Decepticon was found at the site,if he was dead, or, if he was stranded, too injured to flee, the entire plan would destroy itself. Philadelphia was -currently- the anti-alien capitol of the world. That's why it was chosen. The Philadelphians were anti-cybertronian. Insider information leaked that the city wouldn't draw a line between the Autobots and Decpeticons. Philadelphia would be one of the few cities that wouldn't ask the question of who fought whom. If everything went according to Starscream and Soundwave's plan, Philly's reporters would tell the world about the alien Autobots' vicious destruction and disregard for human life. All other public opinion would follow.

.

To Starscream's credit, the mission did mostly go the way it was supposed to. Mostly. The Decepticons dealt with the human factor. The Autobots arrived and retaliated. The virus infected and spread to about half of them. Everything was going according to the leaders' plan. Soundwave had planned everything to the smallest detail. Everything was going how it was supposed to. Everything was going exactly how Soundwave and Starscream had planned it to go.

Then, Starscream ordered Steel to leave the battlefield. He told her to leave Philadelphia. At the time, she didn't think this was part of the plan. At the time, she thought that Starscream was making a mistake. Steel had an adept perception of the battle field. She thought she spotted a flaw within her Lord's plan. She and Space Case had been close ever since they worked together under starscream, back when both of them could fly and Shadow and Megatron lived happily together with their youngling at their base in Nambia. Of course, Steel and Space Case had grown close since then. They got used to each other in the battlefield. They knew the other's moves. They could anticipate, predict, and cover for the other when he or she didn't see a particular attack coming. This was one of those times. Steel disobeyed Starscream's command. She stayed in the battlefield. She took out an Autobot sniper, seconds before he could pull the trigger of a life-ending shot. Steel didn't know that -at the time- the shot could have rebounded. It could have thrown an electrical surge. It could have stalled. It could have done a million and a half other things. Surprisingly enough, each possibility ended with the same outcome: death. Not simply death, but unforeseen death. Of course, Steel knew she was saving Space Case. That was no surprise. What Steel didn't know, was that the shot would have killed Starscream. No one had seen that coming. No one except for Soundwave.

Starscream didn't view the situation the same way that his sparkmate did. Steel disobeyed his direct orders. She risked her life to save Space Case's. He felt his energon boil beneath his armor. She saved Space Case. She valued him more than she valued herself. This infuriated him.

Alerts surfaced in the mech's processor. Their objective was complete. The Autobots were caught in a civil-war of sorts. The human media was almost ready to assemble. The enemy was distracted. This was their chance to escape.

"Decepticons, retreat!"

Steel and Space Case left the battlefield together. He flew, trailing behind her. Space Case covered her six. She had just saved his life. He didn't want to give the Autobots an opportunity to retaliate. He couldn't let Steel die when he owed her 5,263 life-debts.

Steel drove to the rendezvous point and transformed. Space Case transformed mid-air, and landed beside her. The other fliers arrived shortly, landing in a circle that surrounded both Space Case and Steel.

Almost as if it were planned, Starscream erupted. Plainly put, the Lord threw a hissy-fit. The only difference between this and his regular overreactions was that -now- Starscream pointed his null ray gun at Space Case.

"Traitor!" Starscream yelled. "How could you survive?"

Most Decepticons were baffled by Starscream's hostility towards Space Case.

"Space Case," Starscream explained to his subordinates, "has been marked as an Autobot spy."

Steel took a step in front of Space Case, defending him as she always did. She was going to speak. She was going to explain. She was going to tell all of them that Starscream's claim was ridiculous. They all knew Space Case. He wouldn't be able to stand the Autobots' happy-go-lucky-cheer. Starscream was misinformed. He spouted untrue propaganda.

 _Was he, though? Was Starscream wrong? Could Space Case have been a spy? He had spent a lot of time with the Autobots._ Her lord's claim wasn't completely unfounded. Steel took a mental breath and calmed herself. She forced herself to view the situation from Starscream's optics. She needed to. She wanted to. Oh, how she wanted to.

But, he had to push it, didn't he?

"Worst of all," Starscream said, "you defended him, Steel!"

The sad thing was, she could feel the pain attached to each and every one of his words. Starscream felt that she had betrayed him. She felt hurt in turn, feeling guilty from the pain that she had caused him. But, she also felt Starscream's anger. His attacking rage pushed her into a defensive state. He was a threat. He was causing her pain. This was all happening in public. Steel would not let him slander her and Space Case's reputations.

Steel continued to defend her friend. "Space Case isn't a spy!" was all she managed to say before Starscream cut her off again.

"Why didn't you leave the battlefield when I told you to?" His words stabbed her like daggers. "You're just a slower moving, easier to kill target! Didn't you realize that your mere presence on the battlefield causes trouble for me?"

Space Case moved between Starscream and Steel. He served as a wall, protecting her from Starscream's harsh glare and vicious words. "Starscream!" Space Case yelled. Space Case narrowed his optics and snarled at the seeker. "How dare you!" Space Case roared. "Steel has done more for you than any other Decepticon, and you return her affection with slander and scorn?"

"You don't get to speak!" Starscream spat at him. He revealed his sharp claws and slashed at Space Case, pushing the mech towards his trinemates.

Thundercracker and Skywarp each took hold of one of Space Case's arms. But, no one paid attention to them. The spotlight hung on Starscream and his animosity towards Steel.

"How dare you!" Starscream resounded. "How dare you defend Space Case! Why would you side with him against me? Can't you see that he's a possible Autobot piece-of-slag? Yet, you support him! That makes you a possible Autobot supporter. Don't you see the position you're throwing me into? Haven't you seen all the slag that I've done for you? All the extra moving and scheming I've had to do, to accommodate for you? How could you betray me? After all that I've done for you! You've betrayed me... and for what? For Space Case? A possible Autobot traitor? You're in love with him, aren't you? You betrayed me for him. You cheated on me with Space Case, didn't you?"

Steel knew that all she needed to say was 'no'. That's all she had to say. That's all she had to say, and he'd believe her. But, she didn't. She was pissed and she was hurt. His words had caused her pain. How could he? He hurt her. She knew he did. She felt it in her spark.

But, this was bigger than a simple fight or disagreement. This was a spectacle. This was a gladiatorial match, and their teammates' circle formed their arena.

Steel wasn't thinking clearly. She was hurt and she was angry. The fight couldn't have progressed any other way.

"How dare I?" She asked him. "How dare you? You accuse me of all these things, for what? Why in the pitt would you say that?"

"So it's true then?" Starscream asked her without meaning for his words to form a question. He told her, "Steel, you betrayed me."

"Betray you? When in the pitt have I ever betrayed you, fragger! From day one I've stood behind you, backed you up, fought for you, killed for you, and now you accuse me of betrayal?"

The crowd 'ooed'.

"Don't you dare act like you have the moral high ground, here," Starscream spat. "Don't act like you're the victim, here." He gestured to himself, "Do you know how much I've had to sacrifice for you? How much I've done for you? How much I fragging care for you? I dropped everything for you. I made you a priority! I traded power for your protection! My power! Do you know how much better off I would be without you? How much less I would have to travel, or plan, or worry? Don't you dare act like you're the victim, here!"

One mech said, "Oh no he di- int!" and the crowd went silent.

Steel felt like all she wanted to do was fly away and cry. But, she couldn't do either. She couldn't fly away and she couldn't allow herself to waste the energon. Especially not because some fragging aft acted exactly as Megatron had warned her he'd act.

"Fine," Steel said to him as she held back the weakness in her throat. Her processor hurt. "I'm not the victim," she said. "You're not the victim," she said. "We're not compatible," she said. "We were never compatible. Any other statement would be a lie, wouldn't it? I'm obviously a burden on you, aren't I? I can't fly. Neither can Autobots. That's my problem, isn't it? That's what's wrong with me? You said it yourself. I'm holding you back. I'm worse than worthless to you, I'm a drag weight. You need to fly to many places to lead... I can't."

Silence. The crowd was silent. It seemed like an hour went by, yet, everyone remained silent. They didn't know what to expect. They knew that whatever was going on wasn't good. It was serious. They were being serious.

"Is that what you think?" Starscream asked her. He reached his servo towards her. He wanted to comfort her. He wanted to feel her. He wanted to... but, Steel backed away, avoiding his touch. "After everything we've been through," Starscream asked her, "that's what you think?"

Steel lowered her gaze to the dirt by her pedes. She glared at it. "Isn't it obvious?" she asked him. "You can fly: I can't." She felt their child within her spark. "You closed our link, remember? It's obvious you're distancing yourself from me."

"Steel..." Starscream whispered. His spark imploded into a void. His chest felt like it was collapsing in on itself. He forced himself to speak. He told her, "I don't care if you can't fly." He said, "I love you the way that you are. I fell in love with you for your intelligence, and hard-headedness, and for your strong-will, and your loyalty, and every other annoying flaw, and every perfect imperfection that makes you who you are."

"I don't believe you," she said. "Lord Megatron warned me that you were a liar. But, I didn't listen. I fell for you once. But, Starscream," she said, "I don't believe you, and I don't know if I ever will again."

"Okay," Starscream said.

What seemed like an hour passed. Neither spoke. Neither made a move.

"Steel," Starscream said to her, "Decepticons don't have to base their relationships on trust…" He forced himself to joke, "we're Decepticons. Decepticons are used to deception."

She didn't look up at him.

"Steel," Starscream said again. "I'm sorry. Please acknowledge that I'm sorry."

No response.

Starscream reached out his servo towards his sparkmate. "Steel," he said, "I'm sorry."

She took a step away from him.

His digits grasped the air where she used to be.

"Steel…"

She shook her head and turned to leave. The circle parted in front of her. She left. She transformed, and she left. Steel drove away.

Skywarp asked, "Starscream?"

He and Thundercracker watched their trinemate stand silent and alone. His link to them was closed.

"Let him go," Starscream said.

Skywarp and Thundercracker released their grips on Space Case's arms.

"Follow her," he said, "Keep Steel safe."

.

Night.

.

Plains.

.

Hills.

.

Mountains.

.

Steel was angry at him.

.

Steel wanted their sparkling to die.

.

Steel became angry at herself.

.

Steel blamed herself.

.

Steel blamed herself for the possibility that their sparkling -her sparkling- might die.

.

She didn't want him to die.

.

It was all her fault.

.

Wasn't it?

.

She was scared. She was alone. She was scared of being alone.

.

She missed him.

.

 _If only I could fly_ , she thought, _then none of this would have happened._

.

But it did happen.

.

It was her fault.

.

It was his fault.

.

Music drowned out the world.

Birdy - Wings

"Sunlight comes creeping in  
Illuminates our skin  
We watch the day go by  
Stories of all we did  
It made me think of you  
It made me think of you

Under a trillion stars  
We danced on top of cars  
Took pictures of the stage  
So far from where we are  
They made me think of you  
They made me think of you

Oh lights go down  
In the moment we're lost and found  
I just wanna be by your side  
If these wings could fly  
For the rest of our lives

I'm in a foreign state  
My thoughts they slip away  
My words are leaving me  
They caught an aeroplane  
Because I thought of you  
Just from the thought of you

Oh lights go down  
In the moment we're lost and found  
I just wanna be by your side  
If these wings could fly  
Oh damn these walls  
In the moment we're ten feet tall  
And how you told me after it all  
We'd remember tonight  
For the rest of our lives

If these wings could fly

Oh lights go down  
In the moment we're lost and found  
I just wanna be by your side  
If these wings could fly  
Oh damn these walls  
In the moment we're ten feet tall  
And how you told me after it all  
We'd remember tonight  
For the rest of our lives"


	9. Dancing Lights

**Dancing lights**

 _There's nothing easier than telling the truth._ That's the line Knight repeated to herself every minute of every hour of today, the day when her former human allies, those who she considered friends, wished her the best of luck in 'this', the next chapter of her life with Optimus. _There's nothing easier than telling the truth,_ she told herself. She needed to believe it. She wanted to believe them. She wanted to believe that her allies, her friends of the past 8 years, were telling the truth.

Lennox was the last one she and Optimus had agreed to say goodbye to.

"I'm sorry things turned out the way they did," Lennox told Optimus Prime and Knight.

The other Autobots had already left, days ago. They weren't sentimental. But, they had no reason to be. They had nothing to be sentimental about. It was Knight and Optimus who had lost them the war. It was Optimus and Knight who had let their human allies down. They just did as they were told. They just did what was smart. Their human allies gained a false sense of security and their Autobot teammates disbanded, spread out, and 'vacationed' in remote parts of the northern american continent, far from the cybertronian signal locators stationed in several highly populated human-occupied areas.

Optimus kneeled down, and nodded in acknowledgment of Lennox's comment for the last time. "Colonel Lennox," he said in his deep, robust voice, "It is not your fault. Your leaders have spoken." Optimus sighed, "They no longer trust us," Optimus said. He pinched the bridge of his nose with his digits and he continued, "As was to be expected." Optimus stood and looked off into the sunset. His arms fell to his sides. "It was my fault," he said. "The Decepticons were able to deceive an army of my brothers into following them... I shouldn't have expected your species to be any less susceptible to their deception."

Lennox shouted up to both standing Autobots. He noted their spacial difference and -as the small spec standing beneath giants- Lennox wanted to be sure he was heard. "I'm sorry," he said, "I'm so sorry."

 _There's nothing easier than telling the truth. But,_ Knight told herself, _He's not sorry. Why would he be? Why should he be? We were the ones who killed those Philadelphia residents._

Lennox continued, "I tried to convince them, to tell them that the Decepticons were playing them, playing all of us. But, they just wouldn't listen."

 _And,_ Knight asked herself, _Why would they listen?_

After all, she and the rest of the Autobots were the ones who betrayed them. Her teammates didn't see it that way. Bee was pissed at the Americans' proclamation. He was infuriated that the American Government had allowed itself to be bullied by the other nations into taking an anti-cybertronian stance; however, Bee was the extent of their anger. The rest just didn't care. "Frag the humans," they said, "they don't deserve our help anyway." Optimus was hurt, of course. He was their leader. He was the one whom they all looked up to, the one whom they trusted, the one whom they followed into battle. He felt like he had let them down. He had let them all down. But, no matter how bad Optimus told Knight he was hurting in his spark, she could tell through their link that she was hurt worse.

Knight was the femme who initiated the partnership between the humans and Autobots in the first place. She had put her word on the line the very first time the species' met as possible allies. She was the one who convinced her teammates that the humans could be trusted. They believed her. Even after the humans from Sector Seven captured and tortured their lovable scout. They still trusted her. She talked to the humans. Knight was a gifted diplomat. Even Shadow knew that. The humans trusted her. Even when they didn't trust Optimus, they trusted her. She failed them. She failed all of them.

Optimus consoled both Knight and Lennox. "It is impossible to win every battle. Be sure to win the next one. In my experience, I haven't known the Decepticons to give up so easily. Without our aid, be sure to defeat them the next time they attempt to conquer you."

Lennox nodded. "I will," he said.

Knight turned away and stared at the mountains in the distance. "Be sure to kill them," she told him, "family is important. Be sure to keep you wife and children safe."

"I will." Lennox told Knight, "You two do the same. I know the 'Asylum' directive means no fighting, but, if they come after you or the expected little Prime, you should take them out, for old time's sake."

...

...

...

The Canadian rockies calmed her. Their cool breeze chilled her frame and relaxed her movements. The brisk, fresh smell of pine eased her thoughts. Calm chilling waves moved through out her body. After a slight break without him, Steel felt at peace.

She felt better.

On this bright morning, Steel walked between the tall white pines. Space Case followed behind her. She slowed her movements and smiled. She lingered on the scene. A black bear walked along the forest path with her cubs. A moose lapped up some water by a distant lake. Everything seemed to be in its place. Steel smiled at Nature's lyrical interpretation of early morning silence. Life lived. The cybertronians lived along with it. It was survival without the arduous task of surviving. They weren't roughing it in the slums like they could have been. They weren't dodging laser fire, like they would be if they were fighting in a battlefield. They weren't worrying about their faction's power struggle, or about trying to manipulate how their teammates would view them.

Best of all, Steel didn't worry about needing to predict things. In nature, everything just flowed. She didn't need to predict anything; she just relaxed and went with the flow. For the first time in her life, instead of creating plans and predicting possible future outcomes, Steel just went with the flow.

They were off the grid, relaxing in nature. And -surprisingly enough- for once, Steel was content.

They reached the mountain's peak, laid down in the soft, comfy snow, and they gazed up at the stars.

"The green thing," Space Case said as he looked up at the flowing green ribbons of light dance across the sky. He said, "It's breathtaking."

"Aurora Borealis," Steel called it.

"That's what the humans named it?" Space Case asked her. "They knew what was up."

"The northern lights?"

"Not up," Space Case clarified, "Not up like up above them. Up as in 'up and happening'."

"That sounds wrong coming from your mouth."

"Why? Is it 'cause I'm-"

"A terrifying, winged, metal giant?"

"That's not exactly what I was going to say, no."

"Well," Steel said, "That's how I took it."

Space Case rolled onto his side and looked at Steel. "Really?" He asked her. "That's what you took from my statement?"

Steel rolled over onto her side and stared back at her friend. "Yeah," she said to him. "You got a problem with that?"

He stared into her optics and he told her, "My only problem I have is with the snow." He patted the white, cold stuff beside him. "It's freezing," he said.

"Worse than deep space?" She asked him.

Space Case dug his servo into the snow, and rolled his acquisition into a sphere. He smirked and chucked it at her Swat car kibble. The snowball burst on impact.

"Hey!" she cried as she dug her own servos into the snow, "This means war!"

Space Case rolled away from her, and ducked behind a small ridge. He started to build himself an icy wall. Steel prepared many pieces of snow-filled ammunition: snowballs, snow bombs, snow rockets, snow-grenades, etc. Space Case started to prepare his own cache. Steel ran at the mech. Space Case threw snow at his moving target. Steel flanked his position. Space Case moved to get behind a different edge of his wall. He peeked his helm out over its edge and threw what snow-rolled ammo he had hastily prepared. His target moved, jumped the wall, and thrust a barrage of snow-built projectiles upon him...

By the end of their many-hour-long snow-war, both cybertronians had icicles hanging from their armor, and frost accumulating a top their metal plating. It would have been too simple just to say that the pair called a truce. Despite Space Case's raw enthusiasm and fiery passion, Steel was the clear victor. The femme had predicted her opponent's strategy from the moment that he cast his first snowball. He wasn't going to win. He hadn't a ghost of a chance.

Steel and Space Case panted as they laid back down in the snow. The external temperatures of the northern wind and the ice on their metal caused their frames to shiver. But, their internal temperatures slowly rose and melted any snow that had managed to slip beneath the seams of their armor.

They had called a truce. They had both admitted that they disliked being cold. They had both decided to warm up together. Steel nuzzled closer into Space Case's chest. He held her close to him, both of his arms were wrapped around her torso, and clasped behind her back. Their breath was white. Their breathe heated the other's frame. Their legs were practically magnetized together. The pair cuddled.

"Hey, Steel," Space Case whispered into her audio processor, "You warm, yet?"

She snuggled closer into him, "Warm as can be," she said.

"Good," he whispered to her, "I'm comfy too." Space Case hugged the warming femme, comforted by the heat that was transferring between the both of them. "Steel," he whispered into her audio processor, yet again. "I won't tell Starscream if you don't."

Steel snickered. "Starscream?" She felt the warmth between her spark and Space Case's. She could hear it beat, trace its rhythm... Steel sighed. "Space Case," she said to the mech, "I wish I met you before Starscream... and some of the other more messed up relationships I had."

"No you don't," he said.

"You don't know that," she responded.

"Unlike Soundwave," Space Case said, "I can't read your mind."

"You don't need to read my mind," Steel told him.

"But," he asked her, "that's what you wanted, didn't you? You wanted Starscream to read your mind?"

"In all the matters," she said, feeling her and Starscream's sparkling in her chamber, "that didn't matter."

"You wanted Starscream to read your mind," he whispered into her audio processor.

"Over our bond," Steel told him, "Starscream could have read my mind."

"You wanted someone to read your mind."

"He didn't need to read my mind."

"You wanted Soundwave to read your mind."

"Why can't we just look up at the northern lights, and have everything else be fine?"

"Because everything else isn't fine."

...

...

...

Memory core: Steelwing

Accessing Pre-war data Entry X4D6H77921...

This was before the war. This was before Megatron became the Cybertron's Protector, or Optimus officially became a prime. This was before the revolution, before Shockwave underwent shadowplay and many others underwent empurata. This was before Victoria became Shadow, Nova became Visage, Damus became Tarn, and D-16 became known as Megatron.

This was Homecoming.

Steelwing crossed her arms over her chest as she looked out at the 'transformed' gym. The large rectangular prism gymnasium felt threatening to her. But, why wouldn't it? She was basically alone.

Twinkling lights hung from the ceiling, and reflected off of the walls. Long rectangular tables were set up on the outer walls of the gym. The tables housed refreshments, possibly-spiked energon punch, various energon treats, and Hors d'oeuvres, whatever Victoria claimed those to be, and lines of hungry, horny, cybertronian teenagers.

Steelwing saw glittering metal in the distance and walked towards it. Victoria was the femme who had reflected light into Steelwing's optics. _She looks so beautiful..._ Victoria wore thin silver armor over her smooth, soft protoform. The malleable metal outfit was perfectly tailored to accentuate her curvy frame. Its seams were detailed with crimson red, which complimented Victoria's crimson optics, the light blush on her silver face, and her dark red lips. Victoria smiled as she stood, holding a cup of bright blue energon in one servo, and waving at Steelwing with her other. _So heavenly..._ For a single moment Steelwing drew Victoria's attention away from her date, a lower caste miner-frame named D-16.

Victoria greeted Steelwing with a warm hug, and then she took a step backward.

"Steelwing," Victoria said in her angelic voice, "You look wonderful tonight. Your wings are dazzling in their steel plating."

"Thanks Victoria. I love your armor."

Victoria curtsied, "Thank you," she said, "Goldsmith made it." She joked, "Royal Court approved."

D-16 chuckled. "Unlike me," he said.

Victoria lovingly placed her servo on his shoulder and massaged his rotator cup. D-16 took her servo in his own, brought it to his lips, and kissed it.

"Thank you My Lady," D-6 kindly said to her, "but you needn't waste your energy on me." The gun-metal gray mech looked into her optics, and she stared back into his. A deep shade of red shone on Victoria's cheeks.

*cough* *cough* Steelwing said as she covered her mouth briefly. "D-16," she asked her gladiatorial team's captain, "where's the rest of our teammates?"

D-16 didn't want to be distracted from his prize. For the past ten vorns, he had watched Victoria from a distance. Yes, they were friends. But, they were distant. She was distant. A miraculous set of events may have forced her creators to send her away to their -his- high school, Kaon Academy, so many vorns ago. But, Victoria still lived a life above him, mentally, she still lived in the Royal Palace along with the Elite Council and their other offspring, the mechs and femmes that she grew up with. D-16 could still remember the day he first met Victoria, the first day when she walked into their lives. Knight, the former royal guard, was sent ahead to their humble academy, a few orns before Victoria was sent. It's was Knight's duty to protect Victoria. Knight, the sapphire optic'd femme, sifted through the Academy's different cliques until she met Steelwing. The steel-colored femme introduced the royal guard to her friend group: Starscream, Thundercracker, Orion Pax, and D-16. Steelwing mentally laughed to herself, recalling the events. Knight became infatuated with Orion after their first conversation. Unlucky for Knight, the mech belonged to a slim, pink-colored femme named Elita-1. Nevertheless, Steelwing had won over the royal guard's trust. It was Knight's duty to keep Victoria safe while the royal spent some time temporarily 'banished' from the capital city, all because of some 'treasonous' philosophical things she said to a group of revolutionaries. It was Knight's duty to find a suitable friend group for Victoria. A friend group that wouldn't kill her because she had 'evil' royal blood. It wasn't long until Steelwing introduced Knight to her secondary group of friends: Soundwave, Skywarp, Damus, and Nova, all of whom attended the Jhiaxian Academy of Advanced Technology.

Steelwing was getting off-track. Victoria had transferred into their school, Kaon Academy. Victoria had convinced her new school's administrators to approve a gladiatorial team, the school's first official gladiatorial team, which she personally funded. The team's roster was filled by members from both friend groups. D-16 was voted to lead Soundwave, Starscream, Skywarp, Thundercracker, Nova, Knight, Victoria, and Steelwing to victory. As the League Rules dictated: One leader of any frame type could lead a team of four mechs and four femmes to fight alongside him. The sport was simple. The teams would face off against each other in tournaments. The tournaments would consist of several one on one battles between members of the opposing teams. The Kaon Academy team battled many other gladiatorial teams from other high schools on Cybertron, and almost won the championship in Iacon, if it wasn't for their 'mysterious' disqualification. Steelwing could still hear D-16 yelling, "It's because I'm of the lower caste, isn't it?" At the officials as he was dragged outside of the arena. Oh well, there was always next vorn. Anyway, the team had grown fond of each other in the relatively few vorns they had known each other. They practiced after classes together. They went to the local arena and watched the 'illegal' matches together. And when they battled in tournaments, Damus and Orion Pax sat in the stands and cheered the team on together.

"So," Steelwing re-stated the question to both D-16 and Victoria, "Where's the rest of our team at?"

D-16 begrudgingly looked away from his love, and turned his helm towards Steelwing to answer his teammate's interruptive question. Victoria did the same, but more joyously, smiling at her friend, and tilted her helm towards the dance floor, hinting where the rest of their teammates could be.

D-16 said, "Starscream and his "trinemates" as he likes to call Skywarp and Thundercracker, are seeking out femmes on the dance floor."

Victoria sweetly giggled at his remark. D-16 chuckled in response.

He continued, "I expect they won't stop until they've been rejected by every single femme, including yourself Steelwing."

Steelwing blushed. "I wouldn't reject him," she said, "But, I don't expect he'd ever ask."

"Damus asked Nova," Victoria said. "Aren't they cute together?"

D-16 playfully rolled his optics and said, "Adorable."

Victoria 'playfully' nudged his arm.

"What?" Megatron asked his date, "I don't want Nova growing soft on us. She's wasting all of her time outside of practice holding Damus's mental state together. I understand that she's keeping him sane when our philosophy can't, but he's dragging her down to his level." D-16 paused when he realized what he had just said.

"Dragging him down to her level?" Steelwing asked her fearless leader. "Sounds a lot like a miner-frame I know."

D-16 went wide eyed, as a ghostly shade of white washed over his frame.

Victoria took D-16's helm in between her servos, and pulled him into a deep kiss. He wasn't expecting the action, but he melted into her soft, loving touch. He wrapped his arms around her back, and held her in a warm embrace.

 _So, I guess that's her way of telling him she doesn't believe he's "pulling her down to his level."_

"Cough, cough," Steelwing repeated.

Victoria drew back from the kiss. Her servos dropped from the sides of D-16's head, and they rested on his shoulders. The mech still held her close to his torso, so the best Victoria could do to address her friend was swivel her neck, exposing her neck's skin to Megatron, so that she could look over her shoulder at Steelwing.

"I apologize Steelwing," Victoria said, "But, sometimes D-16 doesn't know when to stop talking-"

The gun-metal gray mech leaned his head towards his femme's unprotected neck and tenderly kissed her soft, sensitive skin, over, and over, and over again, successfully silencing her. D-16 hit a soft-spot and bit down, digging his sharp denta into her neck, and breaking skin. Victoria bit her lip in a last-ditch effort to look respectable in public. But, unfortunate for her, a muffled moan managed to escape her lips. D-16 licked at her sweet energon as it bled from his bite-mark. Victoria let a louder moan enter his audio processors, sending D-16 into an animalistic heat. Oh, how he wanted her... her soft skin, her angelic voice, her tempting curves, her delicious fluids, her inviting heat, her delicate body was in his strong, robust grasp...

But, Steelwing refused to witness such a graphic public display of affection. She turned away from their heated frames, and did the best she could to hide her growing blush and unwanted smirk.

"I'm going to go find Orion and Knight," she said to them as she pointed towards the dance floor, "the two cybertronians least likely to interface before they go through a bonding ceremony."

D-16 separated his mouth from Victoria's neck for a single instant, so he could shout at Steelwing as she walked away, "Tell Orion I think he's a back strut-less square **if he doesn't make his move on Knight!** "

 _Sure_ , Steelwing thought to herself. _I'll insult Orion for you because you disagree with his life-choices. Yeah, that's totally sensible, you over-confident prick._

Steelwing walked away from her mech gladiatorial leader and femme student body president, so that she could walk toward her mech student body president and her femme gladiatorial teammate. Steelwing snaked her way through the crowd of other cybertronian teenagers, and she noted just how alone she was in comparison to all of them. It seemed like everyone had someone. Victoria had D-16, whom she would incite a revolution against the Elite Council for. Nova had Damus, whom she would gladly waste the rest of her life for, aiding his mental health. Knight even had Orion, they weren't dating or anything because he was still technically with Elita-1, even though she had recently broken up with him, which he refused to acknowledge _because Orion Pax lived in the fantasy world of his, in which he would get accepted as Alpha Trion's apprentice and live as an archivist in Iacon, and live the rest of his life refusing to say the word 'war'. That peaceful fragger is ruining us all,_ Steelwing thought to herself _, he told Knight that he wouldn't join our little Revolution. Even Damus said he'd join our fight! Orion is such a fragger. How could Knight even like the fool?_

"Hey!" Steelwing greeted the pair as they danced a few feet apart from each other. _"_ Nice dance, right?" Steelwing was obviously referring to the music. The many PDAs (Public displays of affection) made her feel uncomfortable. The DJ's choice in music was decent, though.

Knight greeted Steelwing in a hug. Orion did the same. _That sensitive fragger,_ Steelwing thought to herself in disgust. "How are you guys?" she asked them.

"Great," Knight said, "The music's nice, right?"

"Yeah," Steelwing agreed.

Orion looked around the room and said, "Our classmates are dancing a bit too close to each other for my taste."

 _Can't take a bit of real-fragging life, you sensitive fragger?_

"Yeah," Steelwing said, "Some of them *cough* D-16 and Victoria *cough* should not be in public."

"Or," Knight said, "not at the dance."

"Knight," Orion responded, "all Kaon Academy students have the right to dance at Homecoming."

"Yes," Knight said, "I do agree with Victoria's ideas about rights. But," she added emphasis to her words, "Victoria doesn't plan to dance at this Homecoming dance."

"Why not?" Orion asked her.

"She can't dance," Knight said, "Unless we're talking about prim-and-proper ballroom dancing stuff."

Orion said, "That's still dancing."

Knight told him, "The student body thinks that she's aristocratic enough. Waltzing would be over-doing it."

"Besides," Steelwing added on, "D-16 can't waltz."

Orion said to them, "Then, maybe Victoria should get a different dance partner."

Steelwing felt like screaming at him. Lucky for Steelwing, Knight saved the flier from getting into another energy-wasting argument with her self-declared nemesis that Knight described as "you're both really similar when you think about it Steelwing, are you really sure you want to make him your nemesis" _attention-seeking mech_ designated Orion Pax.

"Orion," Knight said to him, "Victoria would get beaten up if she waltzed at a dance hosted at a high school that self-proclaims itself as the toughest 'working class' high school in the inner-city."

"No," Orion said to her, "Our schoolmates wouldn't beat up their femme student body president, especially not with her mech counterpart dancing in the same gymnasium as her."

"Yes," Knight said, "I know how the people think, and I specifically told Victoria not to waltz, I advised her against intentionally putting herself in harms way."

"No," Orion said. "The student body wouldn't attack her. They are her subordinates."

After Orion's last remark, Steelwing couldn't hold back anymore.

 _"_ Subordinates?" Steelwing asked the mech. "It's dum-slag speech like that, which causes the people to revolt against, what would you call them? Oh right, their superiors."

"No," Orion repeated, "We are only superior because we hold the positions of power. Our titles are what make us superior. In an ideal world, our subordinates would accept this, respect us for our ability to lead, and allow us to do something as simple as waltz at our Homecoming dance."

"Knight!" Steelwing screeched at her friend, "It's one thing to say that you can stand Orion, but -after what he just said- how can you possibly still say that you like the mech?"

"Like?" Orion turned towards Knight and asked his sapphire optic'd femme, "You like me?"

Knight blushed and hid her face behind her servo. "Thanks Steelwing," Knight said, "Way to be subtle."

Steelwing swished her wrist and said, "You'll thank me later… Speaking of later, do you know where our late-to-show Jhiaxian Academy friends are?"

Neither Orion, nor Knight answered her.

"Nevermind," Steelwing said, "I'll go find them on my own."

Steelwing wandered the dance floor, trying to spot a familiar face. Overall, the femme would rate the night a 7 out of 10 in a "how much have I screwed up others' nights" survey. She sighed to herself and continued walking. She bobbed her helm to the music. The DJ had put on a really sweet song. Steelwing continued to look for her friends. She spotted Starscream, Thundercracker, and Skywarp in the distance. They were flirting with femmes, she could tell by their body language. She sighed, avoided making optic-contact, and she moved on.

After a while, she walked up to a crowd, and peeked into its center. No duh, she had found Nova ripping up the dance floor.

Steelwing felt that she couldn't underemphasize her last observation: Nova owned the dance floor.

Steelwing face palmed. Why had she been wandering alone for the past couple of breems? The more that Steelwing thought about it, the more she realized that the purple optic'd and black armored femme was really easy to spot.

Nova was stuck in a dance-off, in the middle of a student-made circle, against one of Kaon Academy's well-known punks. _Too bad for the punk_ , Steelwing thought to herself. The punk had the misfortune of shoving Damus, without knowing how powerful his partner Nova was. Her outlier ability really did come in handy. Nova observed her opponent dancer, mentally copied his best moves and added them to her long list of 'skills copied from watching others' and repeated each and every move she wanted to repeat in the order that she most desired. Nova really did own the dance floor. The students in the surrounding circle cheered for her and chanted her name. Steelwing loved how Nova could turn almost anything into a challenge. It almost bummed Steelwing out how Nova was nearly impossible to defeat in battle, though. Steelwing would've really liked to show up Nova on the battlefield. Nova had her 'nearly unbeatable' reputation because of her outlier ability. Nova had the ability to predict her enemies' moves, after she had observed them, of course. She'd steal your moves, predict your actions, and then use everything in her arsenal to defeat you in such a way that she made it look like she defeated you without even trying.

Nova won her dance battle. _Obviously._ Steelwing congratulated the femme and they all (Steelwing, Damus, and Nova) went over to the rectangular tables and got celebratory 'probably-spiked' energon-punch.

Steelwing talked to Damus and Nova.

The group laughed together, chatted, joked, and overall, had a nice time. It had been almost an joor before their conversation started to transition towards the 'planned' revolution.

"Once we start the revolution," Nova said, "I want to be in the elitist position of the warriors. D-16 and I have already agreed on calling this group the 'Warriors Elite'."

"Wow," Steelwing said, "With your outlier ability, I can definitely see you leading that."

"Thanks," Nova said. "Damus," she asked her partner, "What do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Damus said, "I just want to do something helpful. I don't care it that thing is fighting, or dismantling vehicles, or filling out paperwork, just as long as I'm being helpful."

"That's more than Orion's willing to do," Steelwing said.

"Well," Nova told her, "If Knight in successful in influencing him, then we should have another mech, leading a secondary team on the battlefield."

"Orion's a good mech," Damus said. "I think I wouldn't mind following him onto a battle field. Orion was the one who introduced me to D-16's philosophy. Powerful stuff."

"Yeah," Nova agreed. "Once we win, I definitely want to have the mech appointed as our planet's protector."

"Same here," Damus said. "I really do love that mech's philosophy. It rolls off of the glossa like poetry."

"Victoria's philosophy is nice too," Steelwing said.

"Yeah," Nova agreed, "Isn't the couple adorable together?"

Steelwing laughed. "D-16 said something similar about the two of you."

"Really?" Nova asked her. "He thought we were adorable? Namus, Dova?"

Damus asked her, "How about Nlitch, or Gova?"

Nova raised an optic ridge.

Damus explained, "I'm thinking about adopting the designation 'Glitch'. What do you think?"

Nova smiled and took his servo in her own. "I don't care what designation you want to call yourself. As long as we're together, I don't care what we're called."

*Cough* "Sparkmates" *Cough* Steelwing said.

Nova blushed and looked to the ground. Damus didn't let go of her servo, he caressed it with his digits.

 _Too cute_ , Steelwing thought to herself. "Anyway," Steelwing said to the pair as she noticed just how uncomfortable she was feeling, "I'm going to go and give you some space, so that you won't yell at me for my last comment."

Nova was still blushing and staring at the ground. Steelwing could swear that she saw the femme give a slight nod. Damus's face plate was also glowing a certain shade of red. He discreetly thanked Steelwing with his goofy smile, and she went on her way.

Steelwing had a way of 'unintentionally' setting events in motion. It was what she was good at. The femme had a way of planning that even trumped Starscream's strategical mind. She had a certain imaginative tendency that caused her to dream up unlikely scenarios, and then 'unintentionally' put them in motion. What could she say? Life was a game to her, and her world was an interesting playing field.

After a few more breems of akward dancing and head bobbing, Steelwing found herself siting alone on the bleachers, watching the other teenagers dance away their worries and frustrations.

It didn't take long for Soundwave to walk over to her, and join her, sitting down beside her on the bleachers. _Hey Soundwave._ They both watched the dancers on the dance floor. Steelwing composed beautiful, lyrical thoughts. She created strings of ideas, entertaining scenarios, and analyzed the dancers, the music beats, the tones, the colors, and every other sense that she experienced with utmost passion. Steellwing did all of this while smiling.

Steelwing didn't need to talk to her friend. His presence was enough. They weren't sitting alone in silence. They were sitting in the company of the other, comforted by the other's presence, satiated by the comfort of the other. They were content. They knew each other well enough that they didn't have to say anything. They were practically on the same wavelength.

Still, Soundwave watched the dancers, and he felt as if he should do the socially acceptable action, and vocally confirm what Steelwing already knew. Any one other than Steelwing or Soundwave would have thought it odd that neither had vocally acknowledged the other.

"I always know what's on your mind," he said, carefully choosing his next words, "You're smart like the seeker."

"Starscream?"

"But, you're smarter," Soundwave said. "Much better at strategy. You know when to, and when not to play your cards."

They both watched Starscream and his trinemates ask femme after femme after femme after femme, successfully accumulating a long list of failed attempts and dance-request rejections.

Even though reading minds was Soundwave's outlier ability, in that moment, Steelwing felt that she could read his.

She explained what fueled the trine's flirtatious actions, "I think it's called foolish courage," she told Soundwave, "But, it's courage nonetheless."

"Courage?" Soundwave paused. "I wished I had that."

"No you don't," Steelwing said.

"If you weren't so hung up on Starscream," Soundwave told her, "You could actually benefit from a better mech."

"You're probably right," Steelwing said, "But, a better mech wouldn't want me."

"Courage," Soundwave repeated, "I spend so much of my own will, my own focus, blocking out others' voices, keeping myself from slipping into insanity, that I have none left over to to trade for Starscream's foolish courage."

"Story of my life," Steelwing said. "I spend so much of my time planning, predicting, guessing, assuming, creating every possible possibility, that I lose my own ability to exist outside of my own thoughts."

"I've heard your thoughts," Soundwave said. "It's soothing to get lost in them. They really are beautiful."

"Thank you," Steelwing said. _But,_ she thought, _I wish that this was different. I know it's petty. You're burdened by your ability, just like Damus is. You have it tough. I admire it, though. You, him, Nova. Nova the most. What I wouldn't give to have her ability._

"But," Soundwave told her, "You don't need it. You already can predict."

"Yeah," Steelwing said, "But, still…" _If I had her ability, I wouldn't have to predict. It would just come naturally. I wouldn't have to try as hard as I do. It would just come naturally._

"Nothing comes naturally," Soundwave said. "You have to work hard at it."

 _I know, I know._ She mentally sang: _I've heard you say that line before._

"I know, I know," he repeated, "But, I like the way you think it more."

 _I know, I know. I know, I know… everything, it will always be a chore._

"I've heard you think that line before."

 _And yet I think it more._

"You probably think me to be a bore."

 _No, I don't. You know I don't._

"I've heard you think that line before."

 _And still I think it more._

"I've never heard that line before."

Steelwing touched his servo with her own.

 _And still I think it more._

"Courage," he said.

 _I just hope you don't find me to be a bore._

"And yet, you still like Starscream more."

...

...

...

Present day:

"So," Starscream told his communications chief with an edge of hatred in his voice, "You did try to kill me."

Soundwave looked away from his mission report, and stared, almost threateningly at the seeker.

"Where's Steel?" Soundwave asked him.

Starscream stomped his ped against the ground, but stopped himself from throwing an all out tantrum.

Starscream didn't have to say anything.

He didn't have to waste the energy.

Soundwave already had his answer.


	10. Soundwave and Starscream's rivalry

Memorycore: Soundwave

Regretfully accessing an unimportant 8,000 BC memory... there's nothing to gain from referring to it by its formal code.

 **Time moved slowly.**

Soundwave sighed to himself. _Starscream... what a coward._ He punched his servo through the wall next to his desk's monitor. He stood in the command center, feeling rather lonely. Without her, he felt so much more alone.

 _Steelwing_... She was gone again. Starscream had taken her away from him. Didn't the commander know? Steelwing didn't want to be forced off world. _Why did he do it?_ Soundwave knew the answer. He didn't want to admit it, but he still held a grudge against the seeker. _That blasted seeker._

"Soundwave, sir," a drone asked the Communications Chief, "Is there something I can do?"

Soundwave turned toward the measly servant.

The drone flinched. _Oh, slag. I'm going to die. I've overstepped my bounds._

Soundwave missed Steelwing's thoughts.

 _Is he going to kill me?_

"Drone," Soundwave spat, "Get back to work."

The vehicon raised his servo in a salute, and scurried off and out of Soundwave's sight.

Soundwave sighed and shook his helm. He had lost the war for her spark. He remembered the look on Steelwing's faceplate when she told Soundwave. She had a spark of despair in her optics. But, he was silent. He didn't lie to her and say that he'd try to overturn Starscream's request. He knew his word wouldn't hold. Soundwave had to pick and choose his battles. He couldn't fight this one. He had no power in this fight.

Soundwave clenched his servo back into a fist.

 _I had no power._ He told himself, _There was nothing more I could've done._

"Soundwave," Steelwing had begged him, "Please."

She had closed her mind off from him at the time. It wasn't her fault. She was so emotionally undone that she couldn't stop her thoughts from breaking down into rumbles and sparks. There was nothing he could have done. He couldn't have searched through her processor for a defense, something he could tell the seeker to expose some flaw in his logic and cause him to dissent against his own plan, so that he'd create a new plan, in which he wouldn't separate Steelwing from Cybertron. Soundwave didn't know what to do. So he had said nothing to her.

And Steelwing cried.

He didn't comfort her.

Soundwave wished he had.

But, that wouldn't have done anything helpful. Power flowed sideways in the Decepticon army. Everything started to collapse once their leader was stolen away from them.

Shadow had allowed Starscream's request to go through. Megatron's sparkmate was the first Decepticon to tell Soundwave that Steelwing, his closest friend, was being moved off world. Shadow had told Soundwave not to fight it. Shadow had explained the situation to him in full.

Shadow dictated laws and governed society on Cybertron. Starscream had taken initiative, but not really. The commander took his orders from the Fallen, a mech Shadow really wanted to kill, but knew she wouldn't be able to. Starscream gave his troops the Fallen's orders. Starscream kept the army active, fighting the Autobots, doing all he could to keep the army from destroying itself from within. It was no secret that Autobot spies had infiltrated multiple ranks of the Decepticon Army. When Tarn found out that one of his teammates was a spy... well, he was a little bit more than pissed. That spy paid dearly. His spark was warped into something ugly through an experiment that even Unicron would have considered overkill. This was something Tarn kept from Visage. He tricked her, and Shadow was still dealing with the repercussions of his action.

Tarn had called Visage one night, late after her and the rest of the Warriors Elite had returned from a mission in deep space. Tarn had called her, claiming that he was suicidal. Of course she would travel to his side and comfort him. Of course she would be gullible enough to believe him. The two had broken up a long time ago, at the request of Megatron. The warlord had feared the pair. What if they combined forces against him? Visage could manipulate her team the same way that Tarn could influence his. What if the DJD and the Warriors Elite joined their forces against Megatron? The thought terrified him too much to allow the possibility of it happening.

But, Megatron was gone now, and in the past, Visage had received a call. She thought her friend was suffering, she thought that her friend shakily walked the line between life and death. Visage knew that the hooks-for-servos Vos was a spy. The Warriors Elite were the ones who interrogated the Autobot intelligence officer on Kreegorn that let loose the information about a particular spy in the upper ranks of the Decepticon military. The Autobot killed himself before Visage's team could discern who the spy was, but the Autobot gave them enough to make an educated guess. This is what the Warriors Elite had told Megatron, "The spy has either infiltrated your inner circle, our team, or the DJD." Soundwave investigated everyone. They all cleared his criteria. Either all of them were spies, or none of them were. He reported his findings to Megatron. The Warriors Elite weren't entirely loyal. With a simple suggestion and the right words to provoke them, the team could defect, turning Autobot, Neutral, or go straight for Megatron's spark.

Megatron investigated the Warriors Elite further. Soundwave's Lord determined that none of them were spies, but none of them could be considered loyal either. The team was loyal to each other. They were a family. Megatron had to stop that, but this wasn't the time to disband his best weapon. Optimus would not roll over without them. Knight was by his side. She wasn't making this war particularly easy for Megatron. She knew Megatron and Starscream's strategies as if they were her own. But, in a sense, they were. They had all been together for so long... They had fought together in Kaon Academy. They had started a revolution together. They had risen up against the Council and the caste system. They had given Megatron his power. The Lord would never admit it, but he was nothing without his followers.

His Warriors Elite were some of his most powerful soldiers. Megatron had Shadow talk to Visage. Visage told her team that Megatron's inner circle wasn't infiltrated. Megatron told Tarn the same. The DJD and Warriors Elite observed the other. The DJD lost faith in all members of the Warriors Elite, except for Visage. Tarn had threatened his teammates with a punishment worse than torture if any of them said anything bad against her. It was no secret that Tarn was still obsessed with Visage. He was annoyed that Megatron had told them to separate, but Tarn understood the reason why.

The rumor of a dangerous spy spread throughout all the Decepticon troops. Any soldier that dared to question the sanctity of Megatron's inner circle was met with extreme prejudice from the DJD. That left the soldiers to speculate about the Warriors Elite and the DJD. To decide which team they'd agree with, you'd only need to ask one question... Which did the troops fear more: the most powerful Decepticons, or the most dangerous Decepticons? Blackshadow and Sixshot lead a 'positive publicity' campaign for their own team. The Warriors Elite soon rose in the optics of every mech and femme in Megatron's army. The DJD were left, unguarded. Suspicion struck. Infighting almost occurred. Tarn took hold of his men. He told them that he would not allow his teammates to kill one other over a rumor.

It wasn't a vorn later before the Warriors Elite thought they figured it out. They argued about the matter, making it into a game that soon became a popular pass time, and they decided that Vos was probably the spy. Sixshot told Megatron, and Visage told Tarn. But, Tarn didn't believe her. Not until Megatron told him. That's when Tarn flipped his slag.

Vos was subjected to multiple "Domestication" procedures, and his spark was mutilated until he resembled a feral beast more than he did a conscious being. But, this information was classified. The DJD knew. Megatron knew. Shadow knew. Shockwave knew. Soundwave knew. And, of course, Megatron had made the mistake of letting Starscream find out.

Anyway, Tarn called Visage. Tarn claimed that he was depressed, and that he was mentally breaking down from the events that had taken place earlier that morning. He claimed that Vos's name was added to the list. He said that none of his teammates wanted to acknowledge it. Tarn told her that he felt betrayed in too many ways to count. He said that he was forced to kill his teammate by himself. Tarn told her that he was in mental anguish, and Visage believed him. She put herself in his position. She said that she couldn't imagine what mental torture it would be if she had not only learned that her teammate (someone so close to her that he's practically a brother) had betrayed her... Not only that, but she would be ordered to kill her great friend, as well. Visage wouldn't have been able to go through with it. Visage asked Sixshot if he could finish up her paperwork, and then she flew out to the Peaceful Tyranny, so that she could comfort Tarn.

They talked for long enough for Visage to let her guard down. Tarn was skilled in deception when he needed to be. And, in this situation, he had to be. Megatron had told them both to separate. If anything happened between them, it would have to look like a mistake. Tarn knew that. He acted depressed. The two talked long enough for her to believe him. Her outlier ability came in particularly handy. Tarn knew exactly how to manipulate it. Visage could observe, analyze, and copy. She was observing and analyzing him. She wasn't trying to recreate anything that he was saying, even though she did when she explained her mistake to Shadow. Visage was observing and analyzing Tarn, so that she could identify what specific things bothered him, so that she could figure out what words she could use to best aid his 'state of mind'. Visage's ability was powerful. When she observed, her entire being, her processor, her frame, her wings, they all became more sensitive than a seeker's. When the two used to date, Tarn had discovered this, and he used her sensitivity to his advantage when they interfaced.

In Tarn's quarters, in the Peaceful Tyranny, the two drank 'some' (Tarn claimed they drank nothing, while Visage claimed that she couldn't remember just how much they drank) strong high-grade to 'ease' Tarn's ailing conscience. Visage was hit, her sensitivity was stuck on high, her ability to reason had abandoned her, and she was locked in the same room as Tarn, a mech obsessed with very few things: 'justice', paperwork, Megatron, the Lord's philosophy, and her. Needless to say, with her guard down, her reason gone, her memory/the ability to make memories lost to her, her sensitivity on high, her wings -now more sensitive than a seeker's- out, and animalistic urges present, she was his. For the night, she was his.

Within the week, Megatron's inner circle knew. Megatron wanted to yell at Tarn for slipping, but the Lord knew that yelling wouldn't solve the problem. Megatron swept it under the rug in a sense. Unlucky for the Lord, that's where Starscream had found it. Tarn had tricked visage into having a 'pity' interfacing session with him. **Tricked.** That's the word Megatron used when he spoke to Soundwave.

That all seemed so distant to the Communications Chief. But, it never stopped being relevant. He held onto the information, and was determined never to forget it. Time passed. Megatron ordered DJD members to kill some of the Warriors Elite. Some Warriors Elite became Phase Sixers, far more powerful than anything Starscream would have imagined possible. The Phase Sixers remained close to each other. They still acted like a team. They still considered each other family. Visage was still able to manipulate them into following her. Eventually Megatron and the All Spark were lost to them. That's when the Decepticons' power split apart. Starscream 'controlled' the army. Shadow ruled over Cybertron. Shockwave headed all scientific divisions. Soundwave remained the Chief of Communications.

Starscream went to Shadow. He told her that the Decepticons needed to go expand their reach father into space. He said that the Decepticons needed to rule over more planets, take over more colonies, and destroy any and all Autobot safe havens they would come across in the process. Starscream drew up his immediate plans and gave Shadow his 'needed' list of soldiers. The femme seemed to glare fire into it, burning the entire thing to a crisp. She didn't like it. Starscream had requested that both the DJD and the Phase Sixers be transferred under his command and that they be ordered to obey his jurisdiction, so Starscream could give them his each and every command. Shadow refused. The list of course had many more names on it, but the Phase Sixers and DJD seemed like the most important ones to her. The DJD followed Megatron. They were loyal to Megatron. If there was one group Shadow could count on to keep Starscream in his place while her sparkmate was on hiatus, it was the DJD. Even in Megatron's absence, the group still remained loyal to Megatron, instead of the Commander who stepped in to take Megatron's place. The Phase Sixers were a completely different problem. They were loyal to themselves, but they feigned loyalty to the leader of the Decepticons. The Phase Sixers didn't care who the mech or femme was that lead them. They watched out for themselves, they watched out for each other. Shadow had made sure that Megatron had installed Achilles weaknesses into all of them. They could not be trusted.

The Phase Sixers were currently under the control of Shadow. She did not want to let them go. They secured her power. They were the only safeguard she had that kept the Fallen from 'visiting' Cybertron, or any other Decepticon ruled ship, world, colony, or space station that was governed by her. If Starscream controlled the Phase Sixers, the entire Decepticon cause could fall apart under his leadership.

Shadow wouldn't allow Starscream to have either team, both were off limits. Starscream threatened Shadow with his knowledge. He threatened that he would tell Visage what he knew. Tarn used a lie to trick her. He **tricked** her. 'Tricked' was taking it lightly. Visage would be pissed. Shadow predicted that if Starscream told her, he would have the Phase Sixers in his grasp. Even if Starscream didn't tell the Phase Sixers what orders to follow, he would undoubtably end the DJD, the last safeguard Shadow had against him. Visage, Sixshot, Black Shadow, and Overlord would kill the Decepticon Justice Division, or both teams would weaken each other past a fixing point.

So, Starscream gave his terms. Shadow agreed. Even though she didn't want to, she still agreed. Shadow agreed to give her friend Steelwing to the slimy seeker. Starscream would be able to threaten her with his information again. Shadow would have to think of a safe guard against this, but back then, she did the best that she could, and she put off the inevitable. Shadow broke the news to Soundwave. Steelwing went to Shadow first. "This has to be a mistake," Steelwing said, "It has to be." Why else would Starscream be moving her off world? Shadow didn't answer her. Steelwing went to Soundwave next. Neither could he.

Silence ruled all. It was the language of misery.

.

.

.

The sun rose over the Canadian Rockies. Space Case stretched his arms up and out as he stood in the fresh golden light. He wiggled his wings, an spread them out, feeling the sun on their metal plating. He yawned.

"Morning Steel," he said to his teammate.

The femme rolled onto her side, away from the flier. She was practically curled into a ball. She wasn't getting up. Space Case knew not to push her.

Space Case stretched out his neck, leaning it left and right. His engine hummed. Space Case looked up to the sky and imagined the breeze on his outer plating. His spark beat faster.

"I'm gonna be gone for a bit," Space Case told her.

Steel yawned and sleepily transformed into her SWAT Humvee. She rolled underneath the shade of trees and drifted back into recharge.

Space Case shook his peds, jumped, transformed, and flew above the grassy plain.

.

.

.

The sky darkened. _Where was he?_ Space Case wasn't normally _this_ late. Steel paced between the tall trees. _He's never late._ Steel transformed into her Humvee form and patrolled the forest. _Where could he be?_

Steel drove to the peak of the mountain and looked out at the storm-filled skies.

"Space Case," she called out to him over a COM, "Where are you?"

She received no response. Just like the countless times she tried COM'ing him throughout the day. Steel received no response.

Worry had wormed its way into her spark.

 _Where could he be?_

Steel's processor travelled to the darkest possibilities: MECH, Starscream, the Autobots, Soundwave, humans... Did he fly too close to an energon detector? Was he outmanned by Starscream's trine? Did Soundwave send Decepticons to go out and look for him? Was he ambushed by Fearswoop? Where was he? What could have happened to her friend Space Case?

"Space Case," she called out again.

No response.

"Space Case..." her voice quivered. "Please," she said, "respond."

But, nothing came through from the other side.

If Space Case was conscious, he was sending out nothing... no COM, no life signal, no static, nothing.

Steel stopped trying to reach him through the COM, and she sighed.

 _Space Case..._ she thought to herself, _Wherever you are, I hope you're alright._

 _._

Steel camped out on the side of the mountain, between a grassy ledge and a rocky rock-wall. She stayed there for many hours, waiting for the break of day before driving back onto the mountain path and heading back to her and Space Case's base of operations on a plain at the base of the mountain.

On her way back, Steel noticed something odd. There seemed to be a faint energy signal in the area. _MECH? No, they wouldn't be dumb enough to leave a signal._

 _Autobots? No. Why would they attempt to cloak themselves? They wouldn't dare waste the energon._

 _Decepticon?_ That seemed to be the last plausible answer. As Steel drove on the path beneath the trees, she tried to recreate the day. Space Case disappeared. She attempted contacting him. He either turned off his COM system, had it turned off for him, or he was ignoring her for a reason. Steel was too focused on the mysterious energy signal to ask why. In her search for him, she drove to one of the mountain range's highest points. She watched the skies. She saw nothing. No planes, no birds, nothing. _Fearswoop?_ The 'Con did have a cloaking ability that could fool almost everyone. Why shouldn't the signal be coming from Fearswoop? She wouldn't have been able to see the mech fly in. But, _why would it be Fearswoop?_ The flier was under Starscream's control. Why would Starscream send Fearswoop after her?

 _Why was the signal so faint?_ _OK_ , so the signal wasn't coming from Fearswoop. Steel reasoned that if it was the cloaked flier, he wouldn't have revealed his signal at all.

 _So then..._ Steel asked herself, _who is that signal coming from? A driver? Who? Sparkplug is way too fearful to try reasoning with me again. So, who would it be?_ Names, locations, and forms ran through her processor. _London, France, Tokyo, Russia, Berlin, Israel, Beijing... two are stationed in Northern America. That's discounting fliers._

She argued back and forth within her processor.

 _Why couldn't it be a flier?_

 _ **Why would it be a flier?** **The skies were clear.** _

_Of fliers?_

 _ **What do you think I'm talking about? The sky certainly wasn't free of clouds.** _

_Yeah, so fliers could have snuck, flying within them._

 _ **They'd have to duck down out of them.** _

_Yeah, and into the tree line._

 _ **They'd still have a moment between the clouds and the trees. I was watching the skies. The skies were clear.**_

 _Oh, so now you're claiming omnipotence? How do you know a flier didn't sneak through while you weren't paying attention._

 _**I was paying attention!**_

 _Paying attention to what? The skies? Your sparkling? How about Space Case's non-responsive COM? Your attention was divided._

 _ **Divided enough to miss a Decepticon flier?**_

 _You missed Space Case. And now he's gone. Good going Steelwing._

 _ **It's Steel!**_

 _Good talk. Maybe we can do it the next time your life falls apart._

 _ **It isn't falling apart.**_

 _You're so bored, you're arguing with yourself._

 ** _Being bored isn't a sign that my life's falling apart._**

 _You were bored when you were taken off of Cybertron._

 ** _My life wasn't falling apart._**

 _Sure, keep telling yourself that. While you think of a better response, I'm going to try and figure out what the source of the faint life energy signal is._

 ** _Maybe it's your life._**

 _Yeah, real mature. Keep distracting yourself. You'll recognize your mistake when you're shot dead next to Space Case's lifeless frame._

 ** _He's not dead._**

 _He has to be._

 ** _No, he doesn't._**

 _Look who's still wasting time arguing._

"No, I'm not," Steel whispered to herself as she drove down the mountain path. "I'm just running into distractions."

The trees didn't look damaged. Steel half expected the weak energy signal to be coming from an energon trail. For whatever reason, she expected she'd be following a trail of downed trees, a long ditch of dirt, and drops of energon lead her to an injured flying frame. But, Steel was wrong.

Nothing was wrong. Everything seemed fine in the forest. Almost too fine. Space Case was still missing. That very fact should have kept alarms ringing in her processors. But, she heard none. She saw no evidence of foul play. She found no reason to fear. Disregarding the faint energon signal, the area was clear.

.

She stopped a ways off from their recharging place. Steel knew that Space Case wouldn't be there. Instead, she spotted a large, darkened figure rooting around in the trees. She knew that triangle-like frame type anywhere, even in the near pitch black darkness. His fiery red optics pierced the night. Starscream had not found her yet. Well, at least Steel had figured out that the mysterious faint signal came from Starscream's side of the bond.

Steel's engine stalled. She wasn't sure what to do. She could feel Starscream pulling on his side of their link. He felt his grip on her spark. He really seemed to be searching for her.

Her spark beat quickened. Steel quietly transformed. She barely rose above the tree tops, barely. She bent down, ducked, and moved behind the strong trunks of wider trees.

 _Should I kill him?_ Steel somehow asked herself. An alarm heightened in her mind. _My programming!_ Whether she recognized it or not, her programming had taken Starscream's actions and stance as a threat. "Stupid," she muttered to herself beneath her breath. Though, she didn't entirely disregard her first thought. She was still rather irked at the seeker. Space Case was still 'missing' after all. _If that fragger hurt Space Case in any way..._

 ** _You'll kill him?_**

Steel violently shook her helm. "I can't be arguing with myself right now. I need to stay focused."

Just as Starscream was. He noticed a shift in sound around Steel's position. Her spark nearly stopped when his menacing red optics turned in her direction, almost staring at her, head on.

But, he wasn't. He was staring at past heat signatures and shifts in the wind. The entire area was coated with them. It was apparent to the Lord that his Steel and Space Case used to be in the area. They frequented this area a lot. He could tell by the indentations in the grass plain that both 'Cons had laid apart from each other in the field when they went to recharge. The area was scattered with different indications of their presence. His sensitive wings lent themselves to his growing suspicion and confusion. He swore that she was there with him. He could practically smell her presence.

Steel took a silent, calming breath, and assessed her situation. Successful escape was unlikely. Steel had imagined all of the ways Starscream could shoot at her tires, or follow her from above, or run at her if she attempted to escape quietly, or rip into her presence if he got his servos on a trace of it. She imagined him ramming himself into her and pinning her arms, legs, and back strut to the ground.

She couldn't run. If she did nothing, the seeker would eventually find her. But, in all of her planning and situation predicting, a single question kept popping back into her processor.

Where was Space Case?

Steel gritted her denta and glared in the direction of her seeker. Where was Space Case? What did he do to her friend? If she allowed herself to play the part of the victim, she would never find out. Steel had to go on the offensive. She had to take control of her own life. She had to fight back against all the slag she was facing.

Steel quietly shifted one of her servos into a blaster. She transferred her weight to the front of her pedes, and she snuck forward, getting Starscream right between her sights.

She looked at Starscream's face between her crosshairs. _No,_ she thought to herself, _that shot's too easy... and besides, it wouldn't serve me well._ Steel shifted her weight again. _Well,_ she asked herself, _what part of him should I aim for?_

Steel contemplated her options. She reasoned that revenge would be nice. Her programming was driving her insane. ***Danger* *Threat* *Unsafe for sparkling*** A simple shot would scratch her processor's itch. But, she decided against it. There was no practicality in shooting Starscream. Besides, what part of Starscream did she have to fear? Steel could out think him any day of the week. On occasion she could beat him in a fist fight. The one advantage he had over her was his wings. And even those could be considered as one of his greatest weaknesses.

Steel lined Starscream's wings up with her shot. _I could easily wing him._ She mentally laughed. After a moment, she took another fresh breath and calmed her mind. _If I winged him, he'd be grounded. I can still drive. I could out run him. He'd be in too much pain to snatch my scent. He'd be unable to follow my tracks._

Steel focused in on Starscream and re-lined up the shot.

She couldn't pull the trigger.

 _It wouldn't be practical._ She told herself. _There'd be no gain in wounding the mech._

 ** _What about taking the offensive? Isn't that what I wanted?_**

 _Yes._ She told herself, and felt her processor testing out the trigger.

Steel looked at Starscream, into his optics. He looked like a lost puppy. Steel's mouth rose into a smirk.

 _ **The puppy's looking for his owner.**_

Steel remained smiling for several moments. She felt joy return to her frame. She felt her closed knot on her end of their link start to loosen.

 _A lost puppy._

That's all Starscream was to her in that exact moment.

She joked to herself. _**Megatron's bitch.**_

 _Always wanting to be the alpha._

 ** _Lord Ruffles._**

 _Ruffles?_

 ** _Yeah, Ruffles, as in Ruff, like a dog's bark. Get it?_**

 _So, a dog's bark equates to a star's screaming?_

 ** _You got it._**

Steel was distracted again. She shifted her blast back into her servo. She wasn't going to shoot Lord Ruffles. Not until she could find a better nickname for him. Screemers, Screamy, Screamer, etc. weren't insulting enough. Not after the childish public temper tantrum he dragged her through in front of her teammates. Some part of her still wanted to get revenge. Some part of her still wanted Starscream to pay. All she had right now was a slightly demeaning insult. But, if she used it correctly, well, to Steel, that one shot fired would be good enough.

Starscream swore his sparkmate was hiding. Was she hiding from him? Why would she be doing that? Did she not feel his attempts to re-open their link? Did she not miss him? How could she stay angry at him? Starscream understood that what he did was wrong, and that he said some things he never should have, but, he apologized. Didn't he? Didn't she recognize that?

Didn't she recognize that he was trying? That he was always trying? Starscream gulped. Did his efforts always go unnoticed?

Steelwing ignored him in high school. She only admitted she noticed him when he had defeated her, pined her on the ground after a practice gladiatorial match. She had fallen for Soundwave against her better judgement. Didn't she see all the things he was doing in an attempt to impress her? Didn't jealousy attract a femme's attention? Had Visage lied to Starscream when she told him that? Perhaps. Perhaps it was his lot in life to be treated as the fool. Soundwave practically laughed in Starscream's face when he dangled Steelwing in front of him, or held her close to his chest. _That_ _frag'd Communications Officer._ How dare he! Then, in his newest and mind-shatteringly petty attempt to steal power away from Lord Starscream, Soundwave had attempted to end the seeker's life. What nerve!

Starscream had had enough of Soundwave and everything the mech had stood for. How dare he?! How dare Soundwave threaten the strength of Steel and his relationship! Starscream was going to find her, and he was going to make everything right. Starscream wouldn't let Soundwave win. Starscream wouldn't let Soundwave get to him. Starscream wouldn't let Soundwave steal away his Steel.

Where was she? Starscream perked up his wings and sensed around for her presence. It was everywhere. So was her smell. It was intoxicating. Starscream's mind started slipping. His optics darted around in the darkness. Where was Steel?

She stared at his cold, gray frame. Her servos rested on both sides of the tree she hid behind. She avoided his wandering gazes. Steel didn't want to be found. Especially not by the menacing looking seeker.

But, she had to be. She knew it was inevitable. She knew that he would find her, or she would make a move towards finding him. Where was Space Case? If she allowed herself to be found by the seeker and subjected to the mercy of Starscream's agenda, would she even get to find out where Space Case was?

Starscream's wings singled in on the signal of his sparkmate. He opened up a patch in the forest, pushing trees to the ground to make way for his large frame and trailing wings.

Steel both heard and saw the action. Her spark nearly stopped. Her servos instinctually shifted into blasters.

Starscream's optics landed on his sparkmate. He continued to run towards her.

The femme prepared for what she assumed would be his attempt to ram her.

The mech opened his arms wide, preparing to embrace Steel in a long-overdue hug.

The femme ducked underneath his open (obviously meant to harm her) arms, and rose as behind him as he almost passed by her. Before he had the chance to turn around an attempt another attack, Steel thrust her leg out and round-house kicked Starscream between both of his wings, with her ped striking his backstrut.

The mech fell to the ground and rubbed his backstrut in pain. The initial shock of his sparkemate's action left him speechless. _How was her action justified?_ All he wanted to do was give her a hug!

As Starscream groveled, his processor worked in overdrive, trying to figure out why his beloved had just attacked him.

"Alright!" he screamed out to her, "You're still mad at me. I get that. I'm sorry. It's justified. You're right. Just don't kick me again. One kick is enough!"

Steel looked down at the mech with her arms crossed over her chest. She attempted to keep a straight face. But, Steel felt her control slipping as she looked down at the whimpering Lord. _Awwwww,_ she coo'd to herself, _he looks like a sad, little, hurt puppy... I really can't stand to force myself to look angry at that adorably powerless face._

Her control slipped further, further loosening the knot she had tied inbetween their link.

Starscream felt her wall slowly weaken. He tugged on her spark from his end of their link, and slowly but surely he dissolved the wall between them.

Starscream's optics burst wide open. _What?_ Steel was carrying! And the sparkling was his... No wonder she was so pissed at him! He was the fragging idiot that accused her of promiscuity.

 _"Idiot,"_ he yelled at himself through their link. _"I am such an imbecile!"_

Steel's spark nearly stopped -which happened so often it was practically a medical condition- when she realized that Starscream had reopened their link.

 _Oh frack,_ she thought to herself. _He knows. This isn't good._ Her spark beat faster and energy flooded into her processor. Her thoughts whizzed about her. She was unable to voice coherent sentences. _What would he think?_

Starscream felt Steel's panic through their bond. He attempted to send her waves of cheer or all around happiness through their link. But, her panic and his high energy mixed and filled them both with general confusion at the the other's base emotion.

Starscream sprung from his position on the ground -and before she could react to him- he wrapped his arms around her sides and back, and he pulled her closer into his chest. Starscream wasn't intending on letting go.

Starscream nuzzled into her neck, and held her as tightly as he could.

"I'm going to be a sire," he said below her audio processor, his words slightly muffled by her protoform's skin on near his mouth. Her skin vibrated from his words. "I'm going to be a sire," he repeated, hugging his arms tighter around her. "I'm going to be a sire!"

Steel's programming alerts lulled as relief flooded into her system. He was happy. Starscream was actually happy with her. Steel had not been expecting Starscream's actions or reactions as the mech nuzzled into her neck. Steel felt secure between his arms and his chest. She felt safe with him... and their sparkling did too. The tiny spark absorbed some of the energy his sire sent him through both of his creators' link.

Starscream held Steel close to him. He lovingly pecked at her neck. He excitedly kissed her cheek. "I'm going to be a sire," he whispered excitedly into her audio processor. "We're going to have a sparkling!"

The shock had faded from Steel's processor.

"We?" She asked him smugly.

"Well," he said, "You're going to be the one carrying it,"

"And?"

"And birthing it."

"And?"

"I get it," Starscream said as he nuzzled back into her warm soft protoform. "You're the one having it, but I'm also going to be helping, by your side, nourishing the spark, I'm never leaving your side again."

Steel relaxed into his hold. Starscream felt warm, and strong, and event hough her frame was running on energized energon, she felt slightly more calm. Slightly. But noticeably enough to have learned from their link that Starscream had nothing to do with Space Case's disappearance. Yet, Steel was still calm. Joyful, even. Everything was back as it should be. Everything was the same as it was before their fight, before she found out she was sparked, but better now than it had ever been.


	11. Long Game

[Earth]

Steel looked into his blazing red optics. Starscream looked back into hers.

His perked smile warmed her spark.

"I don't care," he told the femme nestled between his arms. "He could have the entire army and I still wouldn't care."

She nuzzled closer into his chest and asked him, "Really? The entire army?"

"The entire army," he repeated. "None of that matters as long as I've got you."

"None of it?"

"None of it."

That's how his disappearance started. Thundercracker and Skywarp had started to grow suspicious after a month. After two, they went off in search of their trinemate.

Starscream was elusive. No Decepticon knew his location, save for one. But, she wasn't searching for him. She had him and he had her. They spent every second together. Starscream had grounded himself. He refused to leave her side. If there was a single moment they were apart, they were still connected through their bond.

Two months had gone by. Then three. Then four. Then Decepticons started to get worried. They asked each other "What happened to the former commander?" "Was he captured by the humans, killed by the Autobots, or worse… pulverized by the DJD?" None of the Decepticons knew. Soundwave was absolutely furious. The Communications Chief (and half a Lord) ordered the fliers to go looking for Starscream. The fliers grew tired, easily. Their loyalty didn't lie with Soundwave.

Why trust the mech that attempted to snuff Starscream's spark? Why trust the mech that pushed Megatron to rip apart seekers' wings if they acted up? Why trust the mech who debilitated Space Case? Why trust the self-serving Soundwave? All of the fliers whispered about him. He was the one who advised Megatron to ground Steelwing. What was Soundwave's reasoning? "Starscream must suffer. That femme gives her joy and fool's confidence. Take away her wings, and he'll drop her. Your second command will never stray from your path again, Lord Megatron. And, Steelwing? She'll be stranded without her wings. I can keep her close to me. She'll never be able to leave my 'oversight'. I'll take good care of her. You know I will."

That's what the fliers assumed Soundwave's reasoning was, anyway. They all knew that the Communications Chief had a thing for the femme strategist. They despised the (seeking to be a full) Lord. But, with Starscream out of the picture, nothing stopped Soundwave from claiming the full title 'Lord of the Decepticons'. Soundwave still lacked a Queen, but he was sure she would return to him eventually. Cybertronians could only go so long without energon, and she wasn't exempt from the laws of robotics. She would get tired eventually, Soundwave just had to wait until she slipped up, and then she would be his.

Until that moment, Soundwave had an army to lead. Tensions grew with every passing day. His driving subordinates followed his commands. They manipulated the human world from within. Were they in Phase 3, 4, or Phase 5? Soundwave couldn't tell. The (almost) lord desired to call in the phase sixers. The very least he could do was avenge his master's death. But, despite his best attempts, he had no means of communication that leaped farther than the outer edges of the solar system he was currently stranded in. If he had even a slightly operational long-distance communications system, he would've contacted Shockwave and requested immediate transportation back to Cybertron. But, any hope of returning home was lost upon the analytical leader. In his leisure time, he had set up a temporary base in London.

In wait of his fliers' success, Soundwave entertained himself with notions of conquering Earth and avenging Megatron. His latest project dealt with weighing the benefits and repercussions of awakening Sixshot. If Soundwave could ensure the Phase Sixer would follow his commands, he could have the Earth depopulated in less than a solar cycle. Of course, Soundwave would have to find Sixshot's frame first. The leader couldn't rely on his fliers to find and retrieve such an important figure. Especially since they persisted to have such difficulty in a task as simple as finding their former commander, and Megatron's former adviser. Neither had experience in stealth or survival skills. It should've been easy.

But, the fliers were getting uppity. Soundwave would have been a fool to believe that stubborn seekers would fold. Not willingly, anyway. But, time could bend the wills of all sparks. Soundwave remained patient. He could afford to wait. His resources weren't limited.

* * *

[Telos: Moon PH62V]

The Phase Sixer had fallen. Black Shadow. Was. Down.

The Phase Sixer groveled on the ground beneath the DJD's pedes.

His legs wobbled. His arms gave out. His head crashed down into the moon's rocky surface. He was not going to get up again. He tried one time too many. Now, ammo-less and nearly burnt through his energon reserves, the Phase Sixer sobbed.

"Black Shadow," Tarn called out to the guilty. "Former teammate of Visage." The Juror towered over the broken mech. "Former friend to my Conjunx Endura."

Black Shadow's spark stopped beating.

"Today, I am showing you mercy."

Black Shadow's spark started beating again. He sucked in all the air his vents could take, tasting life for the first time in a long time.

"I am offering you a choice between honor and cowardice. If you apologize for your actions, I will allow you to take your own life… If you refuse, I shall grant you a head start on the continuation of our chase."

The DJD remained silent, observing their leader and his captive. Even though they had expected Tarn's action, that hadn't eased their processors. Most wanted the sack of slag Decepticon traitor to suffer. Retribution was only just. But, no. Tarn had to step in again. It was bad enough when they had to 'temporarily' put off Overlord's case when Visage had requested it. "Too dangerous," she had said. "If he hurts you, you might never recover… I-I don't want you to get injured Tarn; not by him." Of course their leader bowed to the waiving words of a sentimental femme. The DJD weren't going to get hurt. They had faced thousands of traitors before. They had battle experience. She didn't have to treat them like they were younglings.

Excluding Tarn, what really annoyed the DJD was Visage's influence over them. Their leader just expedited the process. Visage, the Phase Sixer, always got her way. If Tarn didn't bend to her will, she would speak to high command, and they would enforce her wishes. Visage was a gladiatorial genius. The femme could defeat _any_ opponent. Megatron made sure to keep this feared warrior on his side. If she had a recommendation concerning the DJD, Megatron was keen to listen. Kaon, Tesarus, Helex, and Vos knew that Tarn was excellent at following orders. They knew that If Tarn didn't listen to Visage, their leader would certainly follow an imminent order from Lord Megatron. The DJD were just happy that Visage quieted herself after the base infiltration "incident". She learnt her place, or more specifically, Visage came face to face with her own mortality.

…

Tarn watched the traitor, waiting for Black Shadow to make his next move. The DJD remained silent behind him.

The coward's decision didn't surprise any of the DJD. Tarn had hoped Black Shadow would do the honorable thing. Tarn didn't want to have to tell Visage he extinguished the spark of another of her former teammates. Not after last time.

Tarn knew that Visage valued her teammates. Some more dearly than others. But, they were all only playthings to her. In the end, she valued them as Tarn valued his targets. They were things to help drive off what had turned Overlord traitorous. Boredom. Both Decepticons could kill anyone at anytime without meeting the slightest bit of resistance. Battles had lost their challenge. Their teammates' values shifted. After centuries of lack luster combat, Visage valued her teammates as younglings valued their toys. The Phase Sixer just found a few more entertaining than the rest. Oh, how Visage found Black Shadow entertaining.

* * *

[Deep Space: Station 36Alpha2 AKA "Terminal Confutatis Maledictis"]

Black Shadow cowered in a communications booth.

"TERABYTE, WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY CAN'T?"

"Black Shadow, it would be suicide."

"DON'T TALK TO ME ABOUT SUICIDE, TERABYTE! DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES I'VE HAD TO SAVE YOUR AFT? FOR ONCE TERABYTE, DO YOUR FRAGGING JOB AND RETURN THE FAVOR."

"I can't convince Shockwave to, _as you so elegantly put it_ , 'call off Tarn'."

Black Shadow gripped his servo into a fist, and prepared to destroy the terminal that connected him to his worthless ally. But, he calmed his processor, took a deep breath, and asked Shockwave's valued assistant, "Can't, or won't?"

"Both."

"What if I tried to? Would it work?"

"If you fly to Cybertron, you'll be missing your spark by the time you reach its atmosphere… Shockwave remains loyal to our deceased Lord. I imagine he would honor Megatron's DJD list the same way that he honors the list of basic laws Shadow made, which Megatron enforced on Cyberton."

Black Shadow sighed.

"Although," Terabyte continued, "There are other Decepticons who could help you 'call off Tarn'."

"Who?"

"Shockwave always commented on how the seeker, Starscream, was always willing to bend his loyalty for a better offer. You could go bargain with him."

"Is he still alive?"

"On Earth, if he is. If not—"

"On Earth? That's where Steelwing was deployed. Visage loved toying with that walking battle calculator… they were good friends! Perhaps she'd help me out, get Megatron's replacement to call off Tarn, to appease Visage."

"Speaking of Visage, **the Phase Sixer** , and Earth—"

"It's the perfect plan. All I need to do is bargain with Starscream."

"Black Shadow, I don't want to dash all of your… hope? But, Earth may not be the best option."

"If Starscream's still alive, he's my best shot at survival."

"Black Shadow, Starscream was the mech who offlined Sixshot, **another** traitorous Phase Sixer."

Black Shadow broke into nervous laughter. He asked Terabyte, "Starscream wouldn't make the same mistake twice, right?"

Terabyte stared blankly into the monitor, and refused to answer his ally.

Black Shadow laughed again, "Right?"

"Yeah," Terabyte responded in the least sincere sounding voice Black Shadow'd ever heard. "You keep on telling yourself that, Black Shadow. Hope really improves one's quality of life, especially near the end."

* * *

[The DJD's _Home_ Compound]

Silence. Ghost was used to it. The youngling sat alone in the lounge of the DJD'S home-compound.

The small femme's armor was a silver-white metal covered by ghostly black wisps, which resembled the last breath of smoke from a recently put-out flame. The red-optic'd femme read " _After the Ark: Nominus Prime and the Illusion of Progress_ ," on her creator's data pad, while she curled up in a chair six times her size, which faced the doorway. Between paragraphs, Ghost's tiny red optics lifted from the data pad to check the compound's entranceway. Empty. It remained empty. The youngling sighed.

The tiny femmeling continued re-reading Megatron's first treatise, waiting for her creator to return...

Ghost heard a ship touch down outside the base. Movement. Footsteps. Multiple assailants. Her red optics focused on the door. Ghost returned the data pad to her sub space and shifted her empty servos into claws.

The door opened. Tarn stood in the doorway. Ghost retracted her claws and jumped down from her favorite chair. The femmeling excitedly ran up to her creator, who lifted her up into his arms.

Tarn held his creation and spun her through the air. Ghost smiled and laughed as a youngling her age should. Tarn brought his creation close to his spark, and hugged her to his chest.

Ghost said, "I'm happy you're home."

Tarn returned, "I'm happy too." Tarn leaned the top of his mask against her forehead and told his creation, "I missed you too."

The other DJD members stood in wait.

Tesarus asked their leader, "Uh, Tarn, can we be relieved of duty?"

Tarn held his youngling in one arm and waived off his team with his other servo. "You may go," he told them.

Tesarus, Vos, Helex, and Kaon walked past their leader, exited the lounge, and went further into the compound.

Ghost tentatively watched her creator's teammates walk around Tarn and pass by her. The femmeling squirmed a little bit as The Pet brushed by her when he followed Kaon out of the lounge. She pushed herself closer against her creator, nuzzling into Tarn's chest, to better hide from The Pet.

"Autobots are scary," Ghost whispered.

Tarn held his femmeling closer, cradling her, and hushed her, "I know... I know."

Ghost's memory core overtook her processor. Her mind returned to the time –hundreds of stellar cycles ago- when _Autobots_ breached the base and attempted to take them all away.

One moment –in real time- Ghost hugged Tarn's chest. The next thing she knew, the youngling was reliving the terrifying memory; Ghost's arms were wrapped around her stuffed hellhound, hugging the toy as tightly as she could.

Ghost hid, scared, underneath her berth. She heard the screaming voices of younglings cry out from the nearby berth-rooms, and she heard the sound of tiny frames being dragged, and Ghost heard heavy footsteps growing louder. Closer. Approaching. Her spark was pounding. Her lip was quivering. She used all of her will power to stop herself from purging her tanks and crying. The femmeling did not want to give away her position.

The tiny femmeling looked to the door that connected her and her sisters' berth-room to the hallway. Smoke consumed the edges of their locked door's frame. Ghost heard a light pushing sound, and the door slammed against the metal floor, falling into her room and leaving an empty doorway for the intruders to walk through.

Peds walked to the middle of the room and stoped. Ghost's fear reached an all time high. The femmeling whimpered, crying into the stuffed toy she was curled around; her spark beat faster than she'd ever felt it beat before, and she felt so nauseous she had to cup her servos over her mouth to stop herself from possibly vomiting.

Colors faded from the femmeling's vision. Ghost felt as if she'd died, in hindsight, Ghost identified this experience as a painful teleportation to a limbo of sorts, an alternate plane, where she could watch the intruders from under her berth, but not interact with him.

Her stuffed hellhound dropped from between her arms, and landed softly on the floor. Ghost's spark felt completely disconnected from the sparks of her family members.

Ghost looked to the far side of her room – the side that lead into a wash room- where she knew her older sister was hiding… One of the sisters that she could no longer sense.

Ghost's memory core shifted the memory to a few breems earlier.

Ghost remembered how her older sister, Nova, ran through the door to their berth-room and locked it behind her.

Nova turned to her two younger sisters and told them, "Our carrier was drugged." Nova stared straight into Ghost's optics and emphasized the severity of the situation, "Visage is out cold." Nova took a breath and continued, "the exits are blocked… I barely made it back here alive. The intruders are heavily armed, with Decepticon-looking stun-weaponry."

The middle sister –Solus- postured, "possible rebel group? Angry at Dad?'

Nova told Solus, "it'd be too dumb a thing for any group to do. No one would come here for that."

Ghost thought to herself, _Inside job?_ But, Ghost remained silent.

Solus asked, "revenge, then?"

Nova told her sisters, "We should hide."

Solus asked, "where?"

Nova said, "we should split up. It helps our chances if we can't all be caught together."

Solus ran into the storage area the femmelings used as a closet, and she locked its door behind her.

Nova walked over to entrance to their wash racks, and looked back at Ghost, who stood alone, watching.

Nova typed a code into the panel by the wash racks' door, opened the door to the wash racks, then disabled the berth-room panel all together. She could close and lock the door from within the wash racks.

Ghost ran to her sister's side and begged, "Nova, please, let me hide with you."

"No," Nova told her. "Ghost, you're on your own." Nova placed her servo on her younger sister's rotator cuff, "It's for your benefit, Ghost. The intruders are more likely to check behind locked doors."

"More likely to check behind locked doors than where? Where else can I hide?"

"Under your berth."

Nova stepped backward into the wash racks. The door shut and locked between her and her sister. Ghost grabbed her stuffed hellhound and did as her sister instructed. Ghost crawled underneath her berth, turned around, and watched the door for any and all signs of movement.

Ghost's memory core brought her consciousness back to the moment the intruder's peds stopped in the middle of their room. The previous memory of Nova and Solus calmed Ghost some; colors slowly phased back into existence, and Ghost's mind snapped back to reality.

The mech with the large loud peds said, -in a rough, gravelly, gruff, voice that reminded Ghost of strong deceptions- "two possible exits." The mech waited for a response from his com link, and then said, "I'll proceed with caution."

Ghost's optics focused on the intruder's hesitant inaction, then she turned her head and looked at the entrance to the wash racks, then she re-focused in on the intruder.

The large peds walk up to the wash rack's locked door. Then, a loud **bang** shook Ghost's audio receptors.

Ghost knew that there was no place to hide in the wash racks. They were open. Efficient. Nova's death sentence. Nothing more than an area to shower and an area to dry.

And then the intruder entered the empty doorway.

Then silence.

Then screams. Both of them. Nova was scared. The mech was in pain.

Ghost heard a frame crash against a wall. A single shot rang out. Ghost felt her sister's link fade, becoming quiet.

Then silence consumed all.

Then Ghost watched in silence as her sister's frame was dragged on the floor in front of her and dropped.

The peds re-entered the room. They stopped outside the storage room's locked door. Ghost watched as history repeated itself. The door crashed against the floor. The intruder didn't wait for his victim to respond. One shot. **Bang**. He didn't hesitate. Multiple shots shook the air. Items toppled over, boxes fell. Ghost felt her sister scream, silently. She was shot before she could raise her voice. Solus's link quieted after the shot. Things scattered across the floor. The intruder dragged the limp frame out.

Another Autobot walked into the room and lifted Nova and Solus's frames from the floor. The Autobot asked the first one, "Is anything else here?"

The first mech stoped in front of Ghost's berth.

Ghost felt a cannon go off in her mind. Colors faded from her vision again. Energy filled her frame. She wanted to run, or fight, or die before he got the chance to take care of her. Ghost's spark beat faster and stronger than a jackhammer.

The mech dropped down and scanned underneath the berth. His bright blue optics stared right through Ghost. The mech said, "just a stuffed toy." The mech moved on to check underneath the two other berths. "Nothing."

The second mech told him, "Come on, then. We have a schedule to upkeep."

Tarn's voice brought Ghost out of the memory, "Shhhhhh, shhhhhh my little one. It's alright. I'm here now. Everyone is here, now. That happened vorns ago."

Ghost remembered how angry Tarn was. She remembered how scared Tarn was. Even after the intruders left, Ghost refused to move. Ghost stayed underneath the berth for orns. She was afraid to move. She was afraid to leave. She was afraid to fall asleep, incase the Autobots came back. Eventually she got really tired, and she fell asleep. When she woke up, she had her optics closed from fatigue, but she felt that she was being held. She panicked and squirmed, then thrashed...

And then Tarn held her closer to his chest and he told her "Vector! It's me, your sire. You're safe, now."

Ghost recounted how she couldn't remember exactly what Tarn said next, but she remembered him saying how scared, and angry he was.

Tarn was in the dark. He was on a mission during the well planned, perfectly executed attack. Tarn had lost the connection between him and everyone else, which, at first, he assumed was due to distance between him and them while he was on his mission. But, Tarn became more worried when he got closer to the compound and realized that he still couldn't feel anything. Their sparks were lost to him. Tarn panicked and searched all around base, while the other members of the DJD looked for their offspring and femmes. Tarn was terrified because everything looked busted or destroyed, like there was major resistance, with the exception of Visage's quarters. Tarn had trusted Visage to protect everyone.

Ghost remembered how tightly Tarn held her after he had found her. Tarn apologized to Ghost for leaving her alone, thinking she was safe, when she wasn't.

Ghost cleared her throat (finally calmed down enough to speak) and told her creator that Visage was drugged.

Tarn held Ghost closer to his spark, and she felt his anger through their bond. Ghost realized that Tarn was angry because it was very possible that everyone in their family was dead… That's what Tarn was convinced of, anyway. It was the only thing his spark emitted. Ghost let the theory sink in. The femmeling cried.

Tarn noticed tears fall from his offspring's optics. He reasoned that his anger and assumption had caused it.

Tarn told Ghost that their family members might be okay, just somewhere else. After all, Ghost survived. Then, Tarn said how happy he was when he found Ghost's tiny, little, signal; weak, but still in the base. He searched until he found her, sleeping underneath her berth, next to her stuffed hound. Tarn told his youngling how happy he was that he found her, and how he'd never let anything happen to her while he was there. Tarn held her, and hummed to her, calming the young femme.

The other DJD members entered the room and reported that they couldn't find anyone else. They wanted to know what happened.

Tarn asked Ghost what she remembered.

"Blue optics," she said, forgetting all about the Deception-stun rifles. "Blue optics…"

Tarn's voice brought Ghost out of her memory. He gently whispered to her, "I'm never letting blue optics get anywhere near you again."

Ghost's senses re-adjusted to reality. She realized that something felt wrong with Tarn.

"You smell funny," she told him.

"No," he told her as he lifted her up into the air, "If I smelt funny, then you would be laughing." He glided her around in the air like a flier, and she giggled.

The smell started to really annoy Ghost. The femmeling asked to be put down. Ghost thought that the smell reminded her of fear.

Tarn hesitated for a moment, not wanting to put her down, not wanting to let go of his youngling, but then complied. Tarn asked Ghost, "Where are your siblings?"

"Napping," Ghost said. The femmeling pouted and crossed her arms over her chest. She acted as if she was offended that her creator wanted to know where his **other** younglings were. Ghost wasn't as good an actor as Starscream was, but she managed to send out strong indications through their link about the implications of Tarn's question. _What?_ Ghost wanted to say. _You don't care about me or the time you spend with me? All you want is information on my siblings' whereabouts?_

Tarn dropped down to one knee and told the upset femme, "Ghost... You know you're my favorite youngling."

Ghost smiled briefly and her face blushed a bright red. But, she didn't want to lose to Tarn. She quickly forced herself to go back to pouting with scrunched up optic ridges, with the most annoyed look she could muster.

"I'm still mad at you." Ghost glared at the ground and said, "and you still smell funny."

Tarn dropped to both of his knees, opened his arms wide, and said in a playful voice, "Do you know what else smells funny?"

Ghost was intrigued. She raised an optic ridge and asked, "what?"

"A tickle monster!"

Tarn leaned in to tickle the femmeling, but Ghost's reflexes were too fast for him. The femme backed up. Tarn dropped down to his arms and knees, and crawled closer to her. Ghost fell for his tactic and ran for the furniture. Tarn chased after her. Ghost laughed. Tarn roared. The game went on. Eventually Tarn caught the tiny femme and tickled her until she gave in and called for his mercy.

…

The area surrounding the DJD's compound rang out with laughter and joy. Ghost's siblings played with the rest of the DJD's offspring, and with each other.

But, not Ghost. She sat on the compound's stoop and watched. Even after everything they had been through, she still wasn't welcome to play with the rest of them. Most of her siblings were more adamant about excluding her than before. They were jealous. While they were away, captured, Ghost had Tarn all to herself. While Visage raised them, Tarn raised her.

The only one of her siblings that ever showed Ghost any kindness after the event was Nova. Ghost reasoned that Nova showed her kindness because Ghost was the one who informed Tarn of the situation. If Ghost hadn't, Tarn would have assumed that all of his offspring were dead. The leader of the DJD would've mourned them, and then he would've gone back to work, instead of going out of his and his team's way to go out and look for the missing Decepticons. Nova was the only one of Ghosts's siblings to realize that the only reason she was safe, recovered, and okay, was because Ghost somehow survived the attack and Told Tarn all he needed to know that the missing Decepticons were captured with link inhibitors, not dead.

Nova noticed her youngest sister on the stoop, staring off into the horizon, lost in thought. Nova walked over to Ghost and asked, "What's on your mind?"

"I sensed something off with Tarn."

"So," Nova encouraged, "go spy and find out what's off. You have a real knack for spying without getting caught."

Ghost nodded. She did love to spy. The femmeling re-entered the compound and searched for her creator. The spy-in-training tracked her target all the way to the kitchen, where she decided the best course of action was to hide near the empty doorway and overhear her creators' conversation.

It seemed to Ghost as if both her creators had been talking for a while.

"All I'm saying," Visage said, "Is that we should consider moving our family to Cybertron. At least, temporarily."

"Why?" Tarn asked her. "Haven't I given you everything you wanted? Everything we wanted? Offspring to serve the Decepticon cause? An upbringing for them that would limit possible psychological issues that could corrupt their usefulness?"

"That's not it." Visage sighed and formulated differently worded sentences in an attempt to find one her spouse would listen to. She told him, "I've been summoned to begin Phase 6 on the planet that murdered Megatron. My information is sparse." Visage waited for Tarn's reaction. She decided to shift her tone. "Apparently, there might be Decepticons trapped there. Shockwave refuses to waste resources on long-distance travel until he knows for sure. But, because the planet's inhabitants did team up with Autobots to slaughter our kind, the least Shockwave could do is authorize a means of retribution."

"You?"

Visage nodded.

"And telling me all of this is a overly complicated way of answering my question, how, exactly?"

"I have to leave for a long assignment," Visage said. "I know you have your own work, as well… equally important work… I just didn't want to burden you with the task of watching our younglings while I'm away on assignment."

"But, why Cybertron?"

"Shockwave and his femme-slave could look after them."

"A job we could entrust to any other of your contacts."

"Cybertron is safe. Besides, it's our home-world."

"This compound is our home."

"I just want to make sure our offspring are always safe. Shockwave would ensure that."

Silence hung in the air. She could sense the intensity of her creators' staring contest.

Tarn hesitantly agreed. He did not want to entrust his offspring to anyone other than himself or Visage. But, he also knew that his parenting skills were limited. He and the rest of the DJD had a lot of offspring to take care of. Tarn couldn't just bring his kids with him on the hunt for Black Shadow because he didn't trust the compound's security system. He also couldn't ask Visage to bring them with her on her mission to take over a planet. They were stuck. Tarn couldn't ask his team to _take a vacation_ until Visage returned from her mission. He could sense that they were peeved enough at him for showing Black Shadow mercy.

Visage surprised her conjunction endura with a kiss. She whispered into his audio receptor, "Thanks for giving Black Shadow a chance."

"You can't say I've done nothing for you."

She nuzzled against him. He embraced her.

Tarn offered, "We can go drop the younglings off together—"

Visage finished his sentence, "As part of Black Shadow's head start."

* * *

[Cybertron]

Cybertron was a helpful detour. Visage knew Black Shadow's allies better than Tarn or any other Decepticon in the faction. Visage knew who owed her friend favors. And, like Tarn, she didn't need to know how to interrogate a Decepticon for answers. Fear did that on its own.

Black Shadow was headed for Earth. Under normal circumstances, the femme would've kept this information to herself. But, these weren't normal circumstances. Earth was her target. Black Shadow was his. Where interests collided, Megatron made it very clear that his will always reigned supreme. Whichever mission he –or his replacements- had the most direct control in initializing, took priority over all other inactive decisions. Black Shadow and Visage had taken advantage of that rule in the past; intimidating or interrogating targets on the DJD's list in exchange for classified benefits. Megatron knew. When Phase-Sixing colided with DJD-ing, the Phase Sixers had priority. Always.

The DJD weren't as informed about the unspoken rules of power persuasion as the Phase Sixers and their handlers in high command were. A simple reminder would have sufficed. But, none came.

Visage was careful when she disclosed her findings to Tarn. She said enough. But, not everything. She and Tarn decided that they should travel to Earth together. Shockwave thought it was a grand idea. Carpooling was efficient, after all…

Without Visage, Tarn wouldn't have walked back onto the Peaceful Tyranny. It only took the group an orn or so to get their familial units settled. Vos, Kaon, Tesarus, and Helex moved their younglings and caretakers into renovated apartments in the rebuilt city of Iacon. Visage and Tarn had Shockwave's word that their offspring would be taken care of. Shockwave saw the value in properly tending to weapons, especially to those with as much potential as the offspring of Megatron's two best outlier/ point-one-percenter soldiers.

Tarn didn't want to leave his offspring alone, even when they were guaranteed the best possible care. Visage had to forcibly grab him and take the mech with her after Shockwave's final 'go away' 'your offspring are safe here' tour.

As soon as they reached the atmosphere, Tarn swore to Visage that he'd never forget Ghost's last words to him. They echoed in his helm. They haunted him. He could still remember the depressed look on his youngling's face plate.

Ghost didn't want to see her creators go. She tried –desperately, she tried- everything she could to stop them from leaving.

Before they left, Tarn made one final promise to her… "we will return".

Even though she wanted to, Ghost didn't believe him.

* * *

[Earth]

Moonlight lit the edges of their armor.

"Starscream," Steel asked her sparkmate, "What happens if the DJD come after me, or us?"

Starscream stared into his sparkmate's optics and told her, "If either happens, I will extinguish the DJD's sparks before they get a chance to harm you or our sparkling."

"How?"

"I'll get the Autobots to do it if I have to." Starscream took Steel's servo in his own. He promised her, "I won't allow anything to come between us… Never again."


End file.
